Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli delights with the Gary Kirsten’s coaching. The former South African opening batsman has joined the franchise in January as a batting coach.
Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli is looking happy with Kirsten’s coaching for his IPL team. Kohli believes the youngsters will get the benefit to spend the time with the South African.
The RCB skipper said, “I was personally in favour of getting Gary on board. This discussion came up sometime before the auction. I thought it’s a great opportunity for the younger guys to spend time with Gary.”
Also read: “Virat Kohli is the Fittest Indian Player” – RCB Physio
Kohli made his international debut under Kirsten’s coaching in 2008. He got Kirsten’s direct touch until the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, where India won the tournament under MS Dhoni’s leadership.
Talking about his early stages relationship with Kirsten, Kohli said, “I benefited massively from his inputs in the early stages of my career and that certainly made me a better cricketer in those tough times. I had a great working relationship with Gary. In terms of the batting group operating, I think he’s the ideal man to supervise things. He can keep the batting group together which I saw him do at the international level with the Indian team. Having so many big names in the team and how he got everyone together and the team spirit going, I think that was an outstanding factor.”
RCB was the favourite for the last few years but never won the tournament. The franchise was three-time runners-up and those years were 2009, 2011 and 2016. Playing from the inaugural season for RCB, Kohli took the leadership role since 2013.
Kohli is optimistic on his team for this season. He believes it is the best-balanced side ever in RCB history.
He said on this, “We are optimistic about the season. It’s a very balanced side. In the 10 years that I’ve been here, I don’t think we’ve ever had such a balance. We had balance initially but everyone firing together is also a massive factor. This year, we are not relying only on batting; we’ve got bowling options too. That gives us plenty of positivity heading into the IPL. We know that if we execute our plans well enough, we have cricketers who are experienced and know how to get the job done in the middle. We have faith in all the boys that are in the squad. We understand they have the intelligence level to execute the skills at the required time.”
Also read: Babar Azam quotes, “I try to play like Kohli and compete with him”
Kohli also revealed that he didn’t look at the kit bag or bats for the three weeks after the end of the South Africa tour. He didn’t participate in the recently concluded Nidahas Trophy T20I tri-series, where India claimed the trophy under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy.
Talking about that, the 29-years old said, “I required it. Physically I was having a few niggles. I pretty much went to the tour of South Africa with full intensity. Towards the end, the body obviously took a bit of beating. I understood that I needed complete time off from the game. Three weeks without even looking at my kit bag or bats was a weird feeling,”
