Gary Kirsten singles out Harbhajan Singh as the dressing room joker

Former Indian coach Gary Kirsten may not be with the Indian team anymore, but the memories in the scrapbook when it comes to the four years he spent is simply astounding. Having coached South Africa as well as the Delhi Daredevils after his stint with India, the former South African opener remains to be hot property when it comes to his coaching services.

The former South African opening batsman has a touching story to his unlikely appointment to his coaching stint with the Indian cricket team. In fact, it was former India skipper and current commentator Sunil Gavaskar who invited Kirsten to try his hand at coaching the Indian team. The Indian team at the time was in somewhat of a recovery stage.

They had just clinched the inaugural edition of the World T20 after the sacking of Greg Chappell as the coach. Kirsten came over to the side and coached them into perhaps the best team in the world at the time. They became the highest ranked Test team in the world before clinching the 2011 edition of the World Cup in their own backyard.

Kirsten went on to open up about some of the good times the Indians had in the dressing room during his time with the team. Speaking about some of the wily characters, Kirsten added that Harbhajan Singh was perhaps the funniest of the players in the dressing room.

“We had great characters too. Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh) was the funniest,” Kirsten said.

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Kirsten was also famous for overseeing bright young talents such as Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma. Both of these players are massively important players in the current scheme of things at the moment.

“Enjoy watching Virat. Love the way he takes control and finish games,” Kirsten said, saying Kohli’s intensity helps the team lift itself.

However, since Kirsten left his role, India has failed to live up to the heights set by him previously.