‘I want to bat on this dangerous wicket’: When a rigid Virat Kohli ignored coach’s advice and batted on ‘horrible pitch’
Virat Kohli is renowned globally for his batting masterclass but there is another thing, which separates him from the rest is his aggressive demeanor.
Virat Kohli is renowned globally for his batting masterclass but there is another thing, which separates him from the rest is his aggressive demeanor. His antics on the pitch has often left the fans mesmerised, and R Sridhar in his newly launched book “COACHING BEYOND: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team” narrates another interesting episode, which depicts his strong mentality.
Sridhar, who was the former fielding coach of the Indian men's cricket team, recalled days from 2018, when the Indian unit was present in South Africa for a full-fledged series, consisting all the three formats.
Sridhar said while India were preparing for the Test series, which India lost 1-2, the visitors were provided with a county ground for practice and most were seen batting on the centre wicket and the pitches beside it remained unused due to it's dangerous nature.
However, Kohli quickly padded up and decided to bat on the unused tracks despite the warning by the support staff. He instead asked the throwdown specialists to bowl at him at full throttle, displaying his approach towards new challenges.
"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.
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“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," the former fielding coach wrote recalling the incident.
While Kohli's hardwork definitely paid off as he finished as the leading run-scorer in Test series, accumulating 286 runs from three outings, which included one century and the same number of half-century.
He then carried forward the form in England, where India were thrashed 4-1 in the five-match Test series. On English soil, Kohli once again finished as the leading run-scorer from the series as he managed 593 runs in the five outings, which included two centuries and three half-centuries.
Fast forward to 2023, Kohli is in tremendous form and will hope to notch similar performances in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which is scheduled to start ftom February 9 in Nagpur.