'Kohli is the kind of player who...': Harbhajan delivers no-nonsense verdict on ex-IND skipper's form before AUS series

Legendary Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh asserted that batting icon Virat Kohli will have to take the onus if Rohit Sharma and Co. want to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home.

Legendary Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh is expecting Virat Kohli to go all guns blazing in the upcoming high-profile Test series between Pat Cummins-led Australia and hosts India. After regaining top form in the limited-overs format, former Indian skipper Kohli is all set to lead the batting charge of the Rohit Sharma-led side in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Rohit-led Team India will meet Australia in the series opener on Thursday at Nagpur.

Harbhajan also backed batting maestro Kohli to take India to the final of the ICC World Test Championship(AP)

Often regarded as one of the finest batters of his generation, Kohli has somewhat rediscovered his old form as the batting icon has four international hundreds to his name since September 2022. However, run machine Kohli is yet to end his century drought in the longest and oldest format of the game. The 34-year-old last slammed a Test century back in 2019.

Talking about Kohli's form on his YouTube channel, former Indian spinner Harbhajan said that the batting icon will have to take the onus if Rohit and Co. want to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home. "I think this is the series where Virat Kohli's bat will speak vociferously. When 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. 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," Harbhajan said.

Harbhajan also backed the batting maestro to take India to the final of the ICC World Test Championship. The former Indian skipper is heading to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a series of forgetful knocks against Bangladesh in India's previous Test assignment. "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. 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," he added.

Interestingly, Kohli has a better record against the Men from Down Under in Australia than at home. Kohli only managed to score only 46 runs when Australia last toured India in 2017. Kohli has amassed 1,682 runs against Australia in 20 Test matches. Averaging 48.05, the former Indian skipper has slammed seven centuries and five half-centuries against Australia.