India vs South Africa: Harbhajan Singh makes BIG claim about Virat Kohli ahead of third Test

Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Monday (January 10) expressed hope that Team India skipper Virat Kohli will score a century in the third and final Test match against South Africa in Cape Town starting on Tuesday (January 11). 

It is to be noted that Kohli did not play in the second Test match in Johannesburg due to back spasm. Kohli has been out of form in Test cricket for a long time now and he has failed to hit a century in Test cricket in more than two years. Kohli had scored his last hundred against Bangladesh in November 2019.

"Virat Kohli will return in this Test. I hope his century drought breaks in this match, it's been a long time since we have seen a hundred from him," Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel.

For his part, Kohli said during his pre-match press confernece that he was least bothered about the criticism.

"This is not the first time that people have talked about my form, it has happened a few times in my career. England in 2014 was one of those phases. I do not kind of look at myself from the lens the outside world looks at me with. The standards have been set by me myself, they are not an occurrence from the outside world, and more than anyone else, I take a lot of pride in doing the best for the team and wanting to perform for the team regularly," said Kohli on Monday.

Harbhajan also expressed hope that Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara will score big in the third Test.

"Hopefully, alongside him, Pujara, Rahane, and the other senior players will show their might once again. They have scored 50s but I'll expect them to convert that into centuries," Harbhajan added.

"The doubts over Pujara and Rahane's selection have subdued a bit because both batted brilliantly for their half-centuries. They couldn't convert it into centuries but because these were important knocks, I feel they have cleared the road in front a bit and shouldn't worry about getting dropped... Well done Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, both are senior players and it feels very good when senior players come forward to perform," Harbhajan noted.