Former Team India head coach Ravi Shastri recently shared that he had to occasionally calm Virat Kohli down before he went out to bat as well. However, they shone brightly as captain and coach of the Indian team, helping India win their first-ever Test series in Australia in 2018-19. And, Kohli emerged as the best batter in the world across formats, while also captaining India to becoming the No.1 Test side in the world as well.
Talking about Kohli’s demeanour in an interview on the LiSTNR Sport podcast, Shastri said (9:30): “At times I had to calm him ( Kohli) down. If a wicket went, he would jump out of his seat. I would say, ‘Calm down man, let him (dismissed batter) cross halfway, don’t meet him when he’s just 10 yards away from the stumps. Let him come near the boundary line, then cross him’. He was like a cat on a hot tin roof ready to punch out there. That’s Virat for you.”
“It did because he would show them up otherwise. When you are running between the wickets, if you are a lazy bugger, you’ll soon find out. He’ll be completing two runs and you’ll be trying to finish the second and he’ll be looking for the third while you’ve not even finished your second run. Immediately the message then is, ‘ Get to that bloody gym and start training and get fitter’,” he again shared.
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However, Ravi Shastri praised Virat Kohli for his unmatched work ethic before and after games, giving an example from India’s 2018 Test series in South Africa as well. He recalled Kohli requesting quick throwdowns on a dodgy pitch before the Centurion Test, having failed in the first one at Cape Town.
“It was unreal, his work ethics were special. I’ve never seen anyone like that. Forget the gym, I remember him getting out early in Capetown ( 2018 Test series in South Africa). And he came at the nets at the Centurion and he batted for 45 minutes, then went back in and asked Raghu, a slinger who can crank it up at 150-160 from 16 yards to bowl. And he went after Virat because Virat wanted that,” said Shastri.
“And it was a dodgy pitch so I was a little worried as a coach. The pitch was dodgy and this guy (Kohli) is asking him (Raghu) to go flat out and you’ve got a Test match starting in two days. But he was relentless and then at the ground, day after day there is a routine. So the energy he would bring to the table day in and day out was unreal,” Ravi Shastri concluded.
