There is no denying to the fact that the Indian skipper Virat Kohli is built only to play cricket. In his quest to achieve excellence, this lad has broken uncountable records which he never intended of breaking as his only goal is to play to the best of his abilities for the Indian team. Just a couple of days ago he became the to reach the landmark of 10,000 ODI runs. The legendary Sachin Tendulkar took 259 innings to reach the landmark while Kohli did it in just 205 innings.
In terms of strike, Kohli is again the best as compared to the other 12 batsmen by the time they brought up their 10,000th run. He has already amassed 37 ODI centuries as well. He took just 11 innings to reach the 10,000-run landmark after completing the 9000-runs milestone last year. These numbers are unbelievable but completely true.
Like 2017, 2018 has been remarkable for the Indian skipper. He started off with the tour of South Africa where he smashed 871 runs across formats in just 14 innings. Then came the tour of England and he answered the critics with his outstanding run in the Test series. He has continued the same run by scoring a Test century and back-to-back ODI tons in the ODI series against the Windies.
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While the cricket fraternity Virat’s monumental effort, Kohli chose to focus on his goals ahead then to celebrate. He is the No.1 batsman in Tests and ODIs and by far the most celebrated cricketer in the modern day cricket but there is no sense of entitlement. He is well aware of the fact that despite all these achievements he needs to work equally hard to score every run especially after setting the bar so incredibly high for himself.
The modern master never imagined he would get to this stage in his ODI career as he is on the verge of breaking almost every record of the man he has idolized all his life. When he got to his 10,000th run in Vizag, he had outdone the Master Blaster by 54 innings. Despite all this, he was very humbled and said he had never imagined getting to this point.
During a recent interview with BCCI.tv, Virat said, “I feel very grateful and blessed. I never imagined I would get to this stage one day in one-day internationals career but it has happened and I am very, very thankful to God and I am very grateful right now.”
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He further added, “These things do not matter much but to understand that you have come this far in your career with playing for 10 years is something very special to me because I love this sport so much and you want to play it more and more. That for me is the most important thing and I am just happy that I have been able to play this long and hopefully for many more years to come. I never thought I could achieve this feat or I would get to this stage. I always thought I just want to play for India. If you focus on the process and stay focused on the right things, then these things become irrelevant after a while.”
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Talking about his duties towards the team, Virat said, “My duty is to score runs and having done it for a long time, everything has collected for this moment but the intention should always be to look for what the team needs and get as many runs as possible. I have been able to push my physical abilities and mental abilities on what the team needs and in that process, more runs have been scored than otherwise.”
Kohli’s records and numbers aren’t just outstanding, they are unbelievable up to some extent but he has a simple process which allows him to score all those runs with such phenomenal consistency.
Describing the same, the run-machine said, “I am glad I have been able to help the team with the bat and as I said, it’s all about focussing on what the team needs and the situation demands. All these things look good from the outside as a package but from the inside as a player, you know you are always focussed on the process. It is a great honor for me to represent my country. Even after playing for 10 years, I don’t feel I am entitled to anything here. You still have to work hard for every run you score at the international level because there are many people who want this very badly.”
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It is difficult for a player who has achieved so much to remain grounded and not getting any sense of entitlement. Kohli knows he has a job to do not just as the best batsman but also as the captain of the Indian national cricket team. He understands his responsibilities and duties well.
Describing his take over his responsibilities, Virat said, “When you are in that position yourself, you should have the same hunger and passion. You should never take things for granted, never take it easy at any stage and if I have to dive six times in an over, I will do it for the team because that’s my duty and that’s why I am selected to play for my country. That’s not doing anyone a favor that’s not showing anyone I am committed, that’s purely gaining an extra run for the team.”
