Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif has stated he has experienced how elite India batter Virat Kohli has changed after his marriage to Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma. Virat Kohli recently celebrated his 37th birthday and is in the twilight of his career, having retired from Tests and T20Is.
Several former cricketers believe that if Kohli remains fit, he should be selected for the 2027 ODI World Cup. If Kohli does participate in the showpiece tournament, it will be his fifth World Cup, the first being in 2011. Kohli's journey over the last 20 years has been fascinating.
Mohammad Kaif, who has played alongside Kohli in the IPL, provided an interesting viewpoint on Kohli's evolution over the years. A fan asked Kaif if Virat Kohli had changed over time, and his response was pretty comprehensive.
"Virat Kohli has become a bit calmer now. He is a father. There is a lot of difference between how he was before marriage and how he is after marriage. When I see him playing now—I had met him during an IPL game against Punjab Kings—he hit Kagiso Rabada for a boundary coming down the ground. Maybe he had scored a half-century and won the game. It was a seaming track.
We had a nice chat. He was very calm. He told me that if I had not attacked Rabada early on, he would not have let me play. So, I wanted to hit him off the first ball. Abhishek is doing the same thing. When it comes to his understanding of cricket, there is improvement with calmness," Kaif said on his YouTube channel.
“He still wants to improve his game after having played for so many years. And he still meets me the same way even now. If he called you a brother before, he will call you a brother now as well. When you meet him off the field, he will remember that he has played with you and will give you that respect. There is no change there,” he added.
Virat Kohli, the second-highest run-getter in ODIs of all time, is the fastest to reach milestones of 8,000, 9,000, 10,000, 11,000, 12,000, 13,000, and 14,000 runs in the format's history. Virat has 14,255 runs in 305 ODIs and holds the record for the most centuries by a player in the format, with 51.
