Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has said that star India batter Virat Kohli shouldn’t be judged based on their performances in the 2024 T20 World Cup games in New York. The pitch at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium has so far helped the bowlers, especially the seamers, with Canada’s 137/7 being the highest score in the eight games at the venue as well.

During an interaction on Star Sports, Harbhajan said, “I will get a lot of shortcomings if I try to find them on that pitch, but I do not want to judge anyone on that pitch because batting was difficult on that pitch. There was a lot of help for the bowlers. However, the one thing I would want to see is consistency,” he responded.

“Virat Kohli didn’t score runs there because the conditions were like that. You cannot judge a player in those conditions. He has come here from there, his confidence will be high here. As Navjot Sidhu also said, all batters would have offered Prasada as they got rid of that pitch,” the former India spinner further added.

However, Virat Kohli has scored five runs in three innings in New York. He scored one and four against Ireland and Pakistan respectively, before being dismissed for a golden duck against the USA as well. Harbhajan Singh also stated that apart from Virat Kohli, the other top-order Indian batters also need to do well.

“Runs are obviously expected from Virat Kohli here. Along with that, we need to consistently see partnerships which we weren’t getting in the first six overs. Then your middle order is set. Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube have scored runs. We had spoken about Dube not scoring runs. You cannot judge anyone on that pitch. We were getting 110-run matches there and a winner or loser was getting decided in that. The conditions are different here and we hope the batters’ form will also change along with the conditions, and it will definitely change,” Harbhajan Singh concluded.