'One guy cannot win you the game' - Harbhajan Singh defends Virat Kohli's captaincy

In the wake of the two crushing defeats at the hands of Australia in the ongoing ODI series, Virat Kohli’s much-talked about captaincy is under the scanner once again. The 32-year old’s leadership skills were being questioned since Royal Challengers Bangalore’s exit from IPL 2020 and the latest defeats have not helped his cause.

India were thoroughly outplayed in both the games as the Men in Blue conceded the series with a match remaining. The Virat Kohli-led side lost the first ODI by 66 runs after conceding 374 runs. In the second ODI, the bowling performance was even worse as Australia scored a mammoth total of 389 for 6. In reply, India scored 338 for 9.

As Virat Kohli’s captaincy is being questioned from several quarters, his former India teammate Harbhajan Singh has leapt in his defence. The veteran spinner believes that Kohli is not under any pressure with his captaincy. Harbhajan went on to hail the India skipper as a leader and stated that he leads from the front.

“I don’t think Kohli is under any kind of pressure with captaincy, don’t think it’s a burden for him. I think he enjoys those challenges, he is a leader, who leads from the front and sets example for the team to do the needful,” Harbhajan Singh told India Today.

Captaincy hasn’t affected Virat Kohli’s batting, feels Harbhajan Singh

There are suggestions from several quarters that captaincy has affected Kohli’s batting. However, Harbhajan Singh does not agree with it. As far as winning the game is concerned, he said that Kohli cannot win all the games singlehandedly. He praised KL Rahul‘s recent performances but said that India need a couple of more players who can deliver consistently.

“I don’t think captaincy is affecting Virat Kohli as it’s obviously one guy cannot win you the game. As I said, even after the World Cup, you know you have Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, standing and taking the team forward and scoring most of the runs,” said Harbhajan.

“It’s good to see KL [Rahul] performing but you need couple of more guys consistently doing well for Team India. So the pressure can shift off a little bit from Virat so that he can bat freely, he can do what he needs and also enjoy the game,” he added.