'They played with Virat Kohli's ego' - Harbhajan Singh analyses Indian skipper's dismissal in NZ clash

India suffered a horrific loss against New Zealand by eight wickets and almost lost all their hopes of qualifying to the next round. In the same line of events, former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh opened up on the kind of dismissal Indian skipper Virat Kohli had against the Kiwis. While lauding the tactics of Ish Sodhi, Singh added that New Zealand played with Kohli’s ego and this is where he got trapped.

Singh detailed his opinion to add that when a team plays with the ego of a big player like Kohli by denying him singles, he is bound to play some unorthodox shot. This is what precisely happened with Kohli and he left the field after adding just nine runs of 17 deliveries.

“They played with Virat Kohli’s ego. They said that they will not give him the runs, if you come at the start and play the big shot, it’s fine but they will not give the singles. When you hurt a big player’s ego by not giving the singles, they play a shot like Virat Kohli played today,” said Harbhajan Singh while speaking on Star Sports.

Virat Kohli’s shot is not his natural game reckoned Harbhajan Singh

Singh further added that Kohli’s inability to rotate the strike pushed him to play the shot where he got dismissed. The former spinner appreciated the trap set by Sodhi and Santner which didn’t leak aby singles to Kohli and that is why he went for a shot that was against his choice and style of play.

“Virat Kohli’s shot is not his natural game. He tried what he doesn’t do. If he had hit the same ball over cover or played after stepping out, I feel that would have been a better option,” he added.

After facing an embarrassing defeat against New Zealand, India is almost out of contention from the qualification race. They will have to win all their remaining three games with a huge margin and in turn, Afghanistan should also defeat New Zealand to make India’s chances alive for the next round.