India skipper Virat Kohli had a rough patch on England tour in 2014 and could only score 134 runs in 10 innings of the five-match Test series. He was bothered by James Anderson throughout as India lost the Test series by 3-1. 

Kohli's credibility as a Test batsman was doubted which made him get more focused on his improvement. He spoke about the tour to Mayank Agarwal and called him a milestone in his career.

"2014 will be a milestone in my career. A lot of people take good tours as a milestone. That tour of 2014 will always be the milestone in my career. From where I thought things might go bad for me very soon because the next big tour was Australia. I had to sit down and change the way I thought and approached the game," Kohli said.

"I started being more fearless, not in situations which sort of seemed easy, like in white ball cricket, you invariably knew what the situation was. You prepared yourself, you get motivated very easily.

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"But Test cricket, when it gets tough, to maintain your composure is the most difficult thing for a cricketer. That is something I really needed to correct.

"If that tour hadn't happened, I would have continued probably the same way I was. I wouldn't have improved. That tour really made me think how I wanted to approach my career, 'Do I just want to be a pushover every time I played Test cricket?'.

"Basically I was too worried about thinking of the ball that might come in. That's why I was opening up very early and the ball that was going away was getting me every time. So I just couldn't get past that confusion.

"I never really paid attention to how people perceived me, after 2014. It obviously troubled me a little bit. All my credibility as a player went away in a month or so. So you do feel like, when you know you're good enough but you're focussing too much on what people say, that can disappoint you. I did that as well. I went through that journey on my own.

"Then I stopped focusing on what people said about me."

Virat was very eager to get his credibility back and he had a chance as India was scheduled to tour Australia at the end of the same year. Kohli had a conversation with Sachin Tendulkar and Ravi Shastri which helped him find and overcome his issues.

"I came back, I spoke to Sachin paaji as well. I did a few sessions with him in Mumbai. I told him I am working on my hip position but then he made me realise the importance of a big stride against fast bowlers as well.

"So the moment I started doing that with my hip alignment, things started ironing out pretty nicely for me. I became more and more confident with following that pattern."

Shastri, who was Team Director in 2014, called Kohli to his room after a disastrous outing and gave him advice. "Well, it was after the England tour in 2014. He (Shastri) called me and Shikhar to his room. He called for a bat as well.

"He has such a keen understanding of the game. Little things that you do can make a huge difference, he knows that. Because from a lower-order player to opening the batting for India and averaging 40-plus and scoring hundreds almost everywhere in the world, you have to have a good understanding of the game. His understanding was very sharp.

"He told me something, which I started practicing which is standing outside the crease. He explained the mindset behind it: 'You should be in control of the space you're playing and not give the bowlers to get you out. So many dismissals get taken out when you're standing outside the crease.' I started doing that in Australia and the results were unbelievable.

"Ravi bhai asked me one thing, he asked me if I was afraid of the short ball. I said no. Then he said 'good, then stand outside the crease'. I said I am willing to get hit but not get out.

"Before the tour game in 2018, Ravi bhai saw me practicing and asked me again why I was not standing outside the crease. 'Why have forgotten?' So I went back into the nets and did about 40 minutes of standing outside the crease. It was absolute chalk and cheese."

Four years later, Kohli scored 593 runs in 5 Tests and hit 2 hundred and 3 fifties when India toured England in 2018.