IND vs AUS | Pujara and Rahul have chance to prove themselves in Kohli's absence, feels Harbhajan Singh

Virat Kohli's batting performance and his presence is as much talked about as his absence. Be it present cricketers or former players turned cricket pundits, everyone has been opining about the impact of Virat Kohli's absence from India's side for the last three Tests of the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Kohli will be part of the T20I and ODI series and even the first Test in Adelaide, which is going to be a Day-Night game with pink ball being used in the game starting December 17.

Renowned expert, Harbhajan Singh feels that Kohli is such a big player that the team will miss him especially given how good he has been in Australia, where he averages above 50 in all formats of the game. However, he also feels that someone like Rahul can make most of the opportunity he gets.

“Virat Kohli is coming back after the first Test but this open the window of opportunity for someone like KL Rahul, who is coming back in the Test team. Virat Kohli is a big player and he has scored runs whenever he has toured Australia, his absence will be missed but this is an opportunity for players to step in,” Harbhajan told Sports Tak, reported Hindustan Times.

He added that India should forget about the absence of Kohli and should remember how they performed when they won last time Down Under in 2018/19.

“Virat Kohli’s absence should be seen in this manner. KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara are big players and they have an opportunity to prove themselves. I think Team India has it in them but the fact that Virat Kohli is there or not should be forgotten. The team should just remember that they are in Australia to win and repeat what they did the last time,” Harbhajan said.

The tour will start with the three-match ODI series in Sydney from November 27 followed by an equal number of T20 games before the all awaited Test series begins.