Veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra recently created quite a stir in the cricket fraternity by commenting on the drastic changes in Virat Kohli's persona.
Mishra’s words were similar to what Yuvraj Singh had said about Kohli in November last year, claiming that the star batter was significantly different now compared to when he was a young player in the Indian team.
Sharing his two cents on this topic, former India cricketer Robin Uthappa has hailed Kohli's changes and his evolution into an all-time great.
"I have actually seen Virat kind of evolve from a brash young Delhi boy to an evolved human being. You know the evolution has been quite tremendous, to be honest. Today he's practically reaping what he had sown 15 years ago," Uthappa said on cricket.com/tv.
"One of the things that has always stood out to me about Cheeku has been his conviction in himself," he added.
"When I listen to a young 19-year-old Virat Kohli, you know talking about himself or his conviction in himself, you'll get mortified, you'll be like 'What is this dude talking about?'. But fast forward 10 years and you be like 'Okay now that makes sense.'"
Virat Kohli’s achievement as a cricketer is surreal, to say the least. He has taken Indian cricket to greater heights with his batting and captaincy over the years.
Kohli has represented India in 113 Tests, 292 ODIs and 125 T20Is so far, amassing more than 26000 international runs with 80 centuries. He led India in 213 matches across formats and won 135 of them. His success rate as Indian captain is one of the best in the history of cricket.
Uthappa highlighted that Kohli continues to be "obsessed" with working hard and striving for success despite achieving almost everything in his career.
“A lot of these things is all fluff and no stuff, but Virat showed us that there was stuff behind the talk as well. He is obsessed. I remember went last year to interview some of the RCB boys, and finished his interview, and then the next thing you know that he's in the gym, and he doesn't need to be, but he was there in the gym, hashing out an hour-long workout before he went back and spent time with his family,” he remarked.
Having retired from T20Is, Virat Kohli will now shift his focus to ODIs and Tests with big assignments coming up in the next few months. He might be rested for the ODI series against Sri Lanka next month.
