“You will shame yourself if you don’t score 10,000 runs” – Harbhajan Singh reveals his words to Virat Kohli after shaky Test debut in 2011

India’s former veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh recalled his words to Virat Kohli after the latter made a shaky start to his Test career. Kohli made his Test debut against the West Indies at Sabina Park in 2011 and returned with scores of 4 and 15 in the two innings.

Kohli was dismissed by Fidel Edwards in both innings of his maiden Test match. Harbhajan Singh was also part of that Test match and recalled sharing a piece of his mind with the youngster.

“If I tell you something about his Test cricket, at the very beginning. We were in West Indies. On that tour, Fidel Edwards had troubled him a lot, getting him out either LBW or against the short ball. He was getting out time and again, so obviously was very disappointed. He had self-doubt, questioned ‘If I am good enough?’ I told him ‘You will shame yourself if you don’t score 10,000 runs,” Harbhajan said on Taruwar Kohli on his podcast.

“You have the capability of scoring 10,000 runs in Test cricket. And if you don’t, it’ll be because of your own fault’. After that, what Kohli has done is a once-in-a-lifetime exception.”

Kohli has taken giant strides in the red-ball format, scoring 8848 runs in 113 Test matches at an average of 49.15, including 29 centuries.

Singh has observed Kohli’s inspiring journey to the top of the cricket world from close quarters and feels the batter’s hunger to keep getting better has played a key role in his success.

“I have seen him change. His diet, his mindset – ‘That I don’t want to be just an ordinary player. I want to be someone who people will know for a long time’. The stubbornness I saw in myself, Kohli has a lot more of it. I want to be that guy winning games and scoring hundreds for India,” said Harbhajan in the aforementioned interview.

“He was scoring hundreds back-to-back in Australia. It was the first time India chasing 400 runs… and they are going after it. We may lose but we’ll fight. That attitude of keep going, that’s what makes you a player. Kohli has left an everlasting impact on Indian cricket.”

Kohli will be in action in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh.