Virat Kohli has been given a well-deserved rest for the Asia Cup, but Rohit Sarma has ensured that his absence did not hurt the Indian team. India has so far won all four matches they played in Asia cup. Virat Kohli meanwhile is relaxing in his off time. The Run machine for India opened up his mind about a number of things to Wisden and let’s see them all.
On Test Format
This is what Kohli said about the test matches: “I cannot explain to you the job satisfaction that you get when you do well in Test cricket, because you know how demanding it is. It’s the most beautiful format of the game. I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere. I don’t even see it getting compressed to four days. If you take a country like South Africa or Australia or England, they have big crowds for Test matches because people understand the sport.It’s literally living life over five days. There are so many ups and downs and even when you’ve done well you’ve got to keep coming back and doing it all over again. I think that if you really understand the sport, if you really love the sport, you understand Test cricket and you understand how exciting it is”.
About MS Dhoni
Kohli is always known to have a close relation with Dhoni and this is what he said about the former captain: “I was always someone who kept talking to him(MS Dhoni) about the game so even when I was really young, before I was made vice-captain, I would give him my suggestions. I love thinking about the game and that’s why I enjoy captaincy so much and I enjoy chasing totals so much I love using my brain to figure out what needs to be done during the game. I’ve learned the most from MS, standing so close to him at slip so many times and just observing him at close quarters”
About Kirsten and Fletcher
Gary Kirsten and Duncan Fletcher [former India coaches] are probably the two people I’ve enjoyed discussing cricket with the most. Gary was all about the feel of the game – how you feel as a player and how confident you are mentally. Those small things really matter because I know how to strike a cricket ball but how to get into a zone where I am confident of striking the cricket ball is something I would discuss with Gary. And the same with Duncan as well. To be able to see the game in a particular manner is so much more important than to be able to hit that cover drive,” said Kohli.
“Duncan has such a great understanding of what a particular player needs to correct his game. He would stand in front of me when I was batting in the nets and tell me, ‘Open your shoulder two inches’. Then I would do that and my game would open up and I would be like, ‘What was that!?’. It was that small. If he told me that then he wouldn’t apply it to Shikhar Dhawan or MS [Dhoni] or anyone else. That was for my game. That’s how well he understood individual players.
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