Indian captain Virat Kohli had sought help from the legend amid the ups and downs in England and Australia in 2014. Sachin Tendulkar, after which he went “absolutely fearless” facing the likes of Michelle Johnson.
Virat Kohli: ‘In my mind, I have already achieved what I wanted as a leader’
Kohli is currently leading the Indian team in the five-match Test series against England that begins here on Wednesday.
Kohli told Sky Sports, “You know, playing at this level for a long time, you go to a place where you get a little bit insecure, intimidated, you want to prove to people that you are different. How good are they in different situations.” In an interview aired on Sony Six.
Kohli endured a disastrous tour of England in 2014, recording scores of 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0, 7, 6 and 20 in five Tests, averaging 13.50 in 10 innings.
However, he returned to form after that, scoring 692 runs in the Test series in the tour of Australia.
“To be honest, before the Australia tour, I was treating every foreign tour like an engineering test, that I have to pass somehow and show people that I can play at this level,” the maestro said.
Kohli also said that during that break he realized who is with him and who is not.
“There I realized that once you’re down and out, there was hardly anyone to help me, there was hardly anyone looking at me and saying let’s work together and you Know how to pace your game, everyone was just going after me left, right and centre,” recalled Kohli.
“So, I was like I’ve been playing these guys for a long time to prove, why, I have nothing to do with them, they literally have nothing to contribute to my life,” he said. Said.
Kohli said that then the only option for him was to keep working hard.
“So, I went back home, I was pretty down, the big thing that happened at that stage was that I realized who is with me, who is not, things got filtered to such an extent that when I got back home Gone, I was fine.
He elaborated, “I’ve hit a rock bottom now, no one believes me, everyone thinks I shouldn’t play Test cricket, so what can I do, I work as hard as I can.” Am.”
He said that during his workout session, he imagined how he would face former Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, who was at his peak at the time.
“I went into a bubble, I went to Bombay too, I called Sachin Tendulkar, I asked for his help, I said I want to correct my game, I want to understand what it’s like to score runs at this level, my The mindset was simple.
“I went back home and I said to myself, listen, you can’t play Test cricket to show people that you can play in England, Australia and not get out.
“It’s not a point if you don’t score, you play this game for your team to win. So my mindset was I’m going to Australia and how am I going to score runs against these guys .
“I wasn’t going there to survive, and from the time I got back home until the tour of Australia, I promise you I was imagining everyday, when I was working out at the gym, that I was Michelle Johnson. I am killing these people all over the park.
“Those things eventually came to life because I reassured myself to a degree that I was absolutely fearless when I got there and things just started flowing,” he recalled.
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