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Harbhajan Singh predicts Virat Kohli will score a century against Pakistan in the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai. Kohli has a strong record against Pakistan.
Virat Kohli (L) and Harbhajan Singh. (BCCI/PTI)
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has predicted that Virat Kohli will score a century against Pakistan on Sunday in the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai, saying that he’d celebrate with a bhangra.
Kohli’s form has been quite inconsistent for the last six months. He scored a century in Perth during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy and then a fifty against England in the three-match ODI series. But apart from that he has lacked any convincing knocks and has got out in patterns: to deliveries outside off from pacers in Tests in Australia and to leg-spinners turning the ball away from him in ODIs.
The latter played out again in India’s last match against Bangladesh as he got out for just 22. However, the match-up against Pakistan will bring optimism as he has scored 678 runs in 16 matches against them at an average of 52.15 and a strike rate of over 100, with three centuries and two fifties.
“I’m going to make a big prediction and prediction here. How about Virat Kohli getting 100 versus Pakistan?” Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel. “Yeah, so no matter how his last 4 months are gone, people will obviously remember if you go on to get 100 tomorrow. So come on, Cheeku, the whole nation is behind you. I am hoping that you get 100, and I’m going to do bhangra after the game now.”
In the leadup to the big match, Kohli was reported to have come to India’s practice session an hour earlier than others, taking throwdowns and working on his technique against spin.
“He understands his role,” Harbhajan said of Kohli. “People are looking forward to see Virat Kohli bat and score runs, and the team needs him more than anybody else. And, of course Virat Kohli, when the competition becomes harder, players like him always come to the party, and this is the right time for him to hit the form and good to see him back in the nets early and practicing harder than the others,” he added.
Left-arm spinner Shaheed Shah Afridi and leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed could be the biggest threats for Kohli. India will hope that he not only comes out of his rut but also starts a consistent run of form on Sunday.
