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, 295 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.
No wonder, Kohli is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of the modern era. Such is his popularity that young cricketers from around the world aspire to play alongside him in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Recently, Punjab batter Manan Vohra shared his experience of playing along with Virat Kohli during his time at RCB.
Vohra also compared Kohli’s batting temperament to former India opener Virender Sehwag, who was known for his explosive approach.
"Jitne Viru paaji calm hai utna hi Virat intense hai. Now, I don't know much about his mindset, but when I played with him in 2017, he was proactive and intense. He had the idea of what the bowler was planning against him in terms of speed and field placements. In T20 format, it's important for you to attack every ball, so he also used to tell me the same thing: 'Try to attack and hit a boundary, and if a single comes, it's fine'. So it's like you have to be there and match the frequency with him so that you replicate such kinds of things. Otherwise, an ordinary man can't do it; he was always looking to dominate the bowlers. He is number 1 in the world for some reason," Vohra said in a podcast on Taruwar Kohli's YouTube channel.
Virat Kohli carries an aura and young players try to emulate him in every possible way, but sometimes they also get carried away. Vohra recalled one such incident when he got a bit carried away and lost his wicket after adhering to Kohli's instruction.
"When you listen to his command, you start feeling like you can smash every ball out of the ground, but you have to be sensible and pick and choose your shots. It was a challenge early on one or two occasions when I was looking to attack, got a bit confused, and got out. Once, we were playing against SRH, and Virat bhai came and told me to smash the next ball for a six off Sandeep Sharma's delivery. I went for a shot, which was not my strength, and got out. Then, after the match, he came to me and told me I didn't mean not to read the delivery, advised me to be a little sensible about my shot selection," he added.
Virat Kohli will be next seen in action during the home Test series against Bangladesh, starting on September 19 at Chapauk.
