BCCI released video in two parts of Virat Kohli and Sir Vivian Richards having a chat about batting against some of the best in the world and dominating them. Today they released ‘Part 2’ of the video wherein both of them talk on how claustrophobic it is to practice in the nets.
Virat tried to get an opinion of the great man on net practice by saying, “I felt like this many times where the pitches are fast and bouncy, or even in the nets when you are playing, I am sure you wouldn’t go to the practice just randomly practicing. You would go with the intent, with the purpose that I’m going to stand up against my own bowlers and not get out, not even hit a ball on the edge, hit everything from the middle of the bat.”
Kohli is one cricketer who everybody would believe that he succeeds in doing what he says. Most of the deliveries bowled to him might be hitting right below the MRF sticker. He also asked the question to the right man. Just like Kohli, Sir Viv Richards dominated almost all the top bowlers that he faced.
Sir Richards said, “It is the same thinking, you go and try to eliminate maybe the getting out process, but I have always found nets to be claustrophobic for me and I never felt comfortable.”
The Indian skipper agreed and also said that he too felt claustrophobic while batting in the nets and rather use the center wicket with fielders around him to simulate a match.
“I think exactly the same things about net practice how it can be claustrophobic and I prefer having a center wicket net which is open against our bowlers with fielders so that I have a match simulation,” he said.
He also brought back the topic of his horrendous tour to England in 2014 and how he managed to score runs in the away series thereafter with the help of visualisation process.
He said, “After 2014, I went to England and I had a very bad tour but the next one was Australia which was even more hostile and tough so the thing that helped me was visualisation. Three months before going to Australia I started visualising that I was taking these bowlers on and I am going to dominate and I’m going to come on top and that for me was a revelation because I had so much belief because of putting that thought in my head.”
(Inputs from bcci.tv)
