‘Whether you are Sachin, Kapil or Gavaskar, you feel the pressure’ – Harbhajan Singh reckons Virat Kohli is under the pump

The past few months in Indian cricket have been all about controversies. Virat Kohli, who was India’s all-format skipper a couple of months ago, has been relinquished from the leadership role across all formats. While Rohit Sharma replacing him as white-ball captain was somewhat on the cards, the 33-year-old dropped a bombshell by quitting the Test captaincy following India’s 2-1 defeat against South Africa.

Notably, the ongoing ODI series between India and South Africa saw Kohli playing as a non-captain for the first time since 2017. Speaking on the matter, former off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said the right-handed batter is bound to come under some pressure. The 41-year-old also equipped that no matter how big a player you are, pressure will mount up when you are not performing well.

Virat Kohli knows what’s in his heart: Harbhajan Singh

“When a captain steps down after seven years, a lot of people feel surprised in and outside the team. I myself was very surprised that he perhaps made this decision in a hurry. But obviously, Virat knows what’s in his heart, what are his future plans and what he wants to do in the future,” Harbhajan said in his YouTube channel.

“But when you are captain, things are different. As a batter, he’ll have a different pressure upon him. We all know he’s a big player but when you are captain you don’t have to worry about your selection. You are always selected,” he added.

While Harbhajan noted Kohli did a phenomenal job as India’s captain, he feels the batter would now feel the pressure. “But no matter how big a player you are – whether you are Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, (Sunil) Gavaskar, or anyone – you feel the pressure when you don’t perform,” asserted Harbhajan.

“He’ll feel a pressure that wasn’t there for the past 7 years. But I also want to say that in these seven years he’s performed the best in world cricket as a captain. I hope his performance as a batter continues to be equally good and he keeps winning Team India matches as he did as a captain,” he added.