"Virat Kohli was just lucky to win the 2011 World Cup.."- Harbhajan Singh

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has said Virat Kohli would not be satisfied with his cricket career until he wins the World Cup once again. Virat Kohli won the ODI World Cup in 2011 when he was still finding his feet in international cricket.

He played an important role in the triumph before going on to become the flagbearer of Indian cricket. In the last one decade or so, the former India skipper has scored heavily all across the world and has enjoyed unparalleled success with the bat.

And although he is widely considered as one of the greatest if not the greatest batsman of his generation, Harbhajan Singh believes that Virat Kohli will be desperate to win the World Cup one more time to feel satisfied. The India great also said that Kohli managing to be a part of the 2011 World Cup was luck before saying that his hunger will only be satisfied with another World Cup triumph.

“Virat Kohli didn’t appear on the ground. He needed a well-deserving rest and he got it. In 2011 he won a World Cup, he got into the team and he won the World Cup for the first time, we had already played three or four World Cups and he won it for the first time. It was luck and after that, Virat turned into a big player he played in 2015, 2019, and 2023, and even after that he couldn’t get his hands on the trophy,” said Harbhajan Singh on his YouTube channel.

“So that feeling stays in the mind of the player. I think he won’t be satisfied until he gets his hand on the trophy. He has broken a lot of records and scored a lot of runs. His hunger will be satisfied when he gets his hands on the World Cup trophy,” he added.

RCB’s fate depends on Virat Kohli:

Harbhajan Singh has also said that Royal Challengers Bangalore’s fate in IPL 2024 will depend a lot on how Virat Kohli performs. He stated that RCB will do well if their former captain enjoys an extraordinary campaign like he did in 2016 when he scored a staggering 973 runs with the help of record four centuries.

“Well, it’s important for him to have a season like 2016, because if Virat Kohli goes on to score runs for them, it means the team will go forward,” Harbhajan Singh told Star Sports.

“But I don’t know if they go on to win the cup or not, but with the brilliant individuals they have in their team—Virat Kohli, Maxwell, Green, and a few more like Patidar—so I believe they have a lot of good batting, and everyone wants Virat Kohli to make that comeback from 2016 and score heavily at the top. If that happens, they will have a great chance to go forward,” he added.

Harbhajan’s comments have come in the wake of reports stating that Virat Kohli might be dropped from India’s T20I squad for this year’s T20 World Cup. Reports suggest that the selectors are not willing to pick him in the team and will change their minds only if he has a superlative outing in IPL 2024.