IND vs AUS: "This is the series where Virat Kohli's bat will speak vociferously" - Harbhajan Singh
Former Indian spin bowler Harbhajan Singh is confident that senior batter Virat Kohli will make giant strides in the upcoming Test series against Australia.
Kohli has endured a lean patch in the last three years with his batting form and there have been questions over his position in either of the three formats in the Indian team.
The Indian batting stalwart didn't let the external noise get into his head and stood tall to beat the odds. Kohli ended his century-long drought during the Asia Cup 2022 in September last year after 1021 days.
He carried his momentum in the ODI format with three centuries scored in his last seven innings to leapfrog former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting on the list of most international centuries.
Speaking on his YouTube channel about Kohli's potential and his approach against Australia in the four-match Test series, Harbhajan Singh said:
"I think this is the series where Virat Kohli's bat will speak vociferously. The he starts going, we know he won't stop. If India want to play well in this series then the run-machine will have to take the onus and score big runs."
He added:
"Just forget what happened in the past. Whatever the fault was in the technique has now been left behind. Everything is ok (and) Virat Kohli is back in form."
Kohli is yet to find his momentum in the red-ball format. In 2022, the former Indian captain could only score 265 runs in 11 innings at an average of 26.50.
During India's tour of Bangladesh in December last year, Kohli managed just 45 runs from four innings with a best score of 24.
Harbhajan believes Kohli will do wonders for the Indian team in the Tests against Australia if he delivers with full intensity.
The former Indian player said:
"However, he couldn't make runs in the Bangladesh series. Doesn't matter. I hope that when a player of Virat Kohli's stature returns to form, they do win their team matches. This is the time to take your team to WTC final."
"Virat Kohli is the kind of player who deserves more praise than what he gets" - Harbhajan Singh
Kohli has been the lynchpin of the Indian batting line-up for more than a decade and played some outstanding knocks to win his team matches out of the box.
Ahead of his lean patch between November 2019 to September 2022, Kohli scored 70 international centuries and his consistency apparently set the narrative that he would emulate Sachin Tendulkar's milestone of 100 international centuries.
Harbhajan said that people were analyzing Kohli's form on the number of three-figure scores he would accomplish.
He said:
"Virat Kohli is the kind of player who deserves more praise than what he gets. He has scored so many runs (over the years), so when he comes out to bat, we expect him to score no less than 100 runs. We consider his form based on this."
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India will kick off the Test series against Australia on Thursday, February 9, at the Vidarbha Cricket Association in Nagpur.