‘Gavaskar, Tendulkar came and went, now Kohli…’: Harbhajan’s hard-hitting take

India’s stunning Test series defeat to New Zealand at home has put the scanner on the team’s woes with the bat. The hosts’ top five collapsed in both Tests that they lost to the Kiwis, with the first of those collapses leading to India being all out for a record low score of 46. Apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal, no one has really been able to fire in the Indian top order, including senior players Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma.
Kohli and Rohit were among the senior Indian players who had skipped the Duleep Trophy ahead of the first Test series of this season against Bangladesh. Kohli, in particular, hasn’t matched up to his lofty standards in Test cricket for the past few years, scoring just two centuries in the last four years. Both those centuries came last year and Kohli has managed to cross fifty just once in the five Tests that he has played thus far in 2024.
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has said that while age of the senior players tends to be a factor when questions arise about their form, it really starts coming under the scanner only when the team starts losing. “Look age is a factor for some in this team but then Virat and Jaddu are extremely fit guys. Yes, age, fitness and form are criteria but the questions crop up once you start losing. The onus obviously comes on seniors in the team. It happened in that phase,” he is quoted as saying by PTI.
Harbhajan has also said that anyone can be replaced in the Indian team, as has been proven by the fact that the side has had a succession of great batters over decades.
“Who said that replacements can’t be found? (Sunil) Gavaskar saab gaye, (Sachin) Tendulkar saab aaye, Tendulkar saab gaye, humein Kohli mila aur bhavishya mein bhi aisa hoga. (Gavaskar came and went, Tendulkar came and went, we got Kohli and we will get someone in the future as well),” said the 44-year-old, who shared the Indian team dressing room with a young Kohli and Rohit and an ageing Tendulkar in a transitional phase for the side.
Harbhajan further said that there is enough talent in domestic cricket and it is important to give those players opportunities at the right time. “How did you get Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and now Sarfaraz Khan. It is from domestic cricket only. It is about getting right opportunities at right time.
“If you get chance at right time, you can become Virat Kohli or else you could be Amol Mujumdar or Amarjeet Kaypee,” said Harbhajan, who took 700 international wickets and was part of the Indian teams that won the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup.
“It took Virat 15 years to become what he has become. So you need to look at the talent and may be have an idea that, yes, this boy, if persisted with, can become a match-winner for a decade.
“When we were playing, we heard that Rohit is an enormous talent. How did people know? Because of domestic cricket, and even after first few years of inconsistency, the system backed him. So we will get replacements,” said Harbhajan.