"The greatness of Virat Kohli has been reduced at Chepauk" - Harbhajan Singh

Former India bowler Harbhajan Singh believes Chennai Super Kings' home venue, the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, has "reduced" Virat Kohli's "greatness" in the IPL due to his comparatively underwhelming record at the venue.

The former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain has played 12 matches at the rival's den, scoring 362 runs at an average of 30.17 and a strike rate of 111.38. The average is the lowest for him for any Indian venue where he has played at least 10 IPL matches. The last time he scored a half-century here was in 2013.

“The greatness of Virat has been reduced in terms of his overall performance at that venue," Harbhajan said on Star Sports. "It is a tricky venue to bat, especially as an opening batter against a sort of weird tennis ball type bounce. They've got the great Jadeja bowling stump to stump. He'll get the odd ball to turn and then the odd ball to stay low. It's really tricky."

He added:

“If he's actually prepared to bat about 20 overs, then he can put together a match-winning performance because two hundreds at the accessible Chinnaswamy (RCB's home venue) do not necessarily guarantee the same at Chepauk,” Harbhajan added.

At the Chinnaswamy, known for its flat batting conditions and short boundaries, Kohli has scored 2,700 runs from 82 matches at 39.13 while striking at 140.70.

"Important for Kohli to have a season like 2016" - Harbhajan Singh

The former spinner added that although it might not guarantee RCB the elusive first title, they would bank on Kohli to do a repeat of his 2016 season where he notched 973 runs at 81.08 with a strike rate of 152.03.

"It's important for him to have a season like 2016, because if Virat goes on to score runs, the team will go forward. I don't know if they will go on to win the cup or not," said Harbhajan.

Chepauk will host RCB for the IPL 2024 opener on March 22.