Harbhajan Singh, who recently announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, was all praise for Virat Kohli’s aggressive approach and said that India need more players like him to lead the team forward.
“It suits perfectly, actually and we need players like him in the team to can take the team forward. When team used to go to Australia, they used to think about how to save the Test match. In Virat's captaincy, team goes to Australia thinking how they can win the Test series," Harbhajan told India TV.
India Test team skipper Virat may have not won an ICC troph, but there is no doubt that he has taken this team to unprecedented heights in world cricket. With 33 victories, Kohli is India's most successful Test captain of all time, and with him in charge, the Indian team has accomplished distinctions which not too many thought it could. From winning a Test series in Australia, to having England on the mat earlier this year, Kohli has transmogrified India into a lethal unit.
"And that is the change you have noticed in this Indian side. They went to Australia and beat them twice, they played well in England and I hope they beat South Africa in this series. So Kohli has perfectly played his role as a leader. And the aggressive approach, that has made Virat the player he is today. Had he been soft like MS Dhoni, I don't think he would have scored these many runs," the 41-year old said.
The veteran spinner, who announced his retirement last Saturday, recalled one of his conversation with Kohli hinting towards the latter's Adelaide knock of 141 in 2014 against Australia where the 33-year-old had stressed on India's need to fight and win series in overseas conditions and not aim to save the Test.
"I remember in one of those series, where he had scored a lot of runs, although India had lost the Test series. India had to chase some 400 runs in that match and Kohli had scored a big century. So when he returned to the pavilion I told him that match could have ended in a draw, but he replied that 'there is no importance of a drawn Test, either you win or you lose and the day we learn to fight, we will learn to win and someday we will'," Harbhajan recalled.
World's highly touted batter Virat has till date scored 12,169 in 254 ODI matches, 7,801 runs in 97 Test matches and 3,227 in 95 T20I matches that he played.
However, after the T20 WC 2021 flop show, Virat had to relinquish the 20-overs captaincy resulted in him being removed as India's one-day skipper as selectors did not want to have two different white-ball captains.
