During an Instagram Live session with Bangladesh star Tamim Iqbal, Virat Kohli has heaped praise on Indian throwdown specialist D Raghavendra. The Indian skipper Virat Kohli has credited D Raghavendra for Indian batsmen’s improvement against fast bowling in recent years. He mentions how the latter has the ability to use the sidearm and throw the ball at speeds in excess of 150-155 kmph.
Kohli said, “I believe the improvement this team has shown while playing fast bowling since 2013 has been because of Raghu. He has good concepts about footwork, bat movement of players. He has improved his skills so much that from sidearm he easily hurls the balls at 155 kmph.”
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“After playing Raghu in nets, when you go into the match, you feel there is a lot of time,” Kohli added.
Kohli also revealed his secret that helps him in high-pressure chases. The Indian skipper mentioned the importance of self-belief and how he never has self-doubts at any time.
The Indian skipper mentioned, “To be honest, I never doubted myself in-game situations. Everyone who is human has doubts and weaknesses. Have their negatives. So in practice during tours, if you haven’t had a good session you feel you don’t have that flow. Yes, doubts creep in then and it’s at the back of your mind. The key is to keep going and get into that zone until you feel that it was just a distraction. If I believe I am good enough, then I am good enough.”
Kohli added, “The best part about match situation is that you don’t need to think so much. You react to situations knowing your role. Negative voices always come off the field when you are not in competition mode.”
During the interaction, Kohli also spoke about the importance of diet and fitness.
“In case of batting, if you are not in good form, you like to spend more time in the nets until one session which you will yourself know was a perfect net session. After that, I don’t spend more than 10 minutes. Then I take throwdowns. Once you are in touch you shouldn’t overdo net sessions as you will create bad habits.”
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“Once you have a perfect net session you tend to think you can hit any shot. And in that process, the body shape goes awry and you would be frustrated. So all your work will go down the drain.”
