There are many shades of Virat Kohli, but the one that draws everyone’s attention is his incredible intensity and aggression on the field.

Kohli is someone who wears his heart on his sleeve and his infectious energy often rubs onto his teammates. No wonder, India emerged as one of the most dominant teams in the world under his captaincy.

Recently, former India fielding coach R Sridhar released a book titled 'Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team', in which he shared a fascinating anecdote from the 2017-18 tour of South Africa involving Kohli.

Sridhar revealed that the visitors were given a county ground for practice and most were seen batting on the centre wicket as the pitches beside it remained unused because of its dangerous nature.

However, Kohli was up for the task and asked the throwdown specialists to bowl at him the quickest despite the warning.

"Before that England series, we were in South Africa in January 2018 preparing for a Test series. They had given us a county ground for practice. The pitches were horrible. There was one centre wicket on which we were practicing, but the side wickets at Western Province in Cape Town were far from ideal.

“Virat saw that nobody was batting on the wicket because it could be a bit dangerous. He quickly padded up, called Sanjay, Raghu and myself and said he wanted to bat. We tried to dissuade him, but he was adamant he wanted to bat on the surface. ‘I want it to be dangerous, I want to bat on this dangerous wicket and I want Raghu to bowl at his fastest.’ That is what he did. He did that every time. He put himself under severe distress in difficult conditions and ensured he overcame it. So he was honing his skill, he was also sharpening himself mentally," Sridhar wrote recalling the incident.

Virat Kohli is currently on a break after featuring in the ODI series against New Zealand at home. He will return to action in the upcoming four-match Test series against Australia, slated to start on February 9 in Nagpur.