Virat Kohli’s 2014 England tour was one of the lowest of his career path. Kohli, who went to England as India’s batting ace, had a disastrous series, making 134 runs in 4-Tests. Kohli scored 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0, 7, 6, and 20 for an average of slightly over 13 points. Though Kohli rectified himself subsequently that year by hitting almost 700 runs in 4-Tests, the India skipper reflected on the period and stated that he had no one to turn to for advice. Here is Virat Kohli Exclusive.
Virat Kohli exclusive
“To be honest before that Australia tour, I was treating every foreign tour like, more like an engineering exam, that I have to pass somehow and I have to show people that I can play at this level,” Kohli told Dinesh Karthik in an interaction.
“There I realized that once you are down and out, there was hardly anyone who came to help me, there was hardly anyone who was looking towards me and saying listen let’s work together and you know try to get your game up to speed, everyone was just going after me left, right and center. So, I was like I am playing to prove these people long, for what, I have got nothing to do with them, they literally have nothing to contribute in my life.”
Everyone thinks I should not be playing Test cricket: Kohli
Kohli went on to say that he looked to the great Sachin Tendulkar for support at the hardest of times and that many inspirational speeches with himself benefited him tremendously.
“So, I went back home, I was down for quite a bit, the great thing that happened at that stage was, I realized who is with me, who’s not, things were filtered to an extent that I just got so relaxed when I went back home, I was like okay. I have hit a rock bottom now, no one believes in me, everyone thinks I should not be playing Test cricket, so what can I do, I can just work hard as I can,” Kohli elaborated.
My mindset was how I am going to score runs against Australia: Virat
“I went into a bubble, I went to Bombay as well, I called Sachin Tendulkar, I asked for his help, I said I want to get my game right, I want to understand what it is like to score runs at this level, my mindset was simple”.
“I went back home and I told myself, listen you can’t play Test cricket to show people that you can play in England, Australia and not get out. If you don’t score it is not a point, you play this game to make your team win. So my mindset was I am going to go to Australia and how I am going to score runs against these guys”.
“I wasn’t going out there to survive, and from the time I got back home till the Australia tour, I promise you I was visualizing every day, when I was working out in the gym, that I am hitting Mitchell Johnson, I am hitting these guys all over the park. Those things came to life eventually because I convinced myself to an extent, when I went there I was absolutely fearless and things just started flowing.”
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