Indian skipper Virat Kohli has a never-ending hunger for scoring runs and he feels that Test cricket gives him an immense satisfaction and he mastered the longest format by “watching” teammate Cheteshwar Pujara bat for long hours.
Virat who is in his late 20s has already established himself as one of the best cricketers of the modern era, On Sunday broke the record of Brian Lara as the skipper with most Test double centuries (6).
During a chat with Pujar for BCCI.tv, Kohli said, “My favorite obviously is Test cricket, we are making sure from every angle that this should be the most important format because as a batsman or as bowlers also we know how pleasing it is to score in Test matches, especially when conditions are tough.”
He further added, “You have to counter conditions in South Africa, England, Australia. Job satisfaction is the most in this format. ODI and T20 also from an emotional point of view. When there is a full stadium and you win a close game that gives you a high.”
Kohli also accepted that his teammate Pujara has inspired him to score big centuries and that he has learned to bat longer watching him do that. He said, “It feels wonderful. It was always my mindset to score big hundreds, something that I have watched you do a lot in your career early on and learned also, how to concentrate for longer periods. We have all learnt from his (Pujara) long innings, his concentration levels and his will to keep batting. So I also got inspired by that to keep batting for the team for as long as possible.”
The Indian skipper has amassed as many as six double centuries in the last 17 months and has also scored 52 international tons across formats. He feels that physical fitness playing a huge role in his career as he said, “We know as professional cricketers, we don’t have many years. So, we have to make the most of it and I try to stay as fit as possible, take care of my diet, take care of my training and it’s paid off well till now. But I think we all are training so hard now and it’s showing on the field and I am just trying to do the same.”
When asked about when and how the transformation took place, Kohli revealed, “The change started in the 2012 IPL when I had a very bad season and I was expecting a lot from that season because I had scored a Test hundred in Australia and I scored 183 against Pakistan in Asia Cup. I could not come out of that, my mental state was very bad, I was eating very bad, my habits were not good at all. So I went home afterward and I saw myself in the mirror after coming out of the shower and I thought I can’t look like this if I want to be an international cricketer.”
He also added, “So, from the next day onwards, I changed everything about my diet, training, and everything. I was in the gym every day for an hour and half to two hours and I just completely changed my diet.”
Kohli concluded by talking about the expectation of scoring a double ton in ODIs, he said, “Double hundred is not something I can plan. I think maybe if I get to bat early, if the wicket is nice. I have come close twice but it’s something I can’t pinpoint. Rohit has done it twice but I don’t think I can play as many shots like him in the latter half of the innings. He ended up getting there because he is unstoppable when he goes past 130-140. But I will try to do it if I have enough overs.”
Here is the complete interview:
https://www.facebook.com/IndianCricketTeam/posts/1686183108070042
