Virat Kohli gets philosophical while talking about 10000 run milestone, says ‘scoring runs for team is his duty’

Kohli, who broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record to become the fastest cricketer to score 10,000 ODI runs, stressed on the fact that he still works hard to score every run at the international level.

Indian captain Virat Kohli spoke to the BCCI after completing 10,000 runs in his one-day international career and said that he never imagined that he would reach this stage in his career one-day. Kohli stated that he just wanted to play for India.

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli drinks during the second one day international (ODI) cricket match between India and West Indies (AFP)

“I feel really greatful, I feel really blessed. I never imagined I would get to this stage in my one-day career but it has happend and I ma thankful to God. These things do not matter much but to understand that you have come this far in your career after playing for 10 years it something very special to me because I love the sport so much and you want to play it more and more and that for me is the most important thing. I am just happy that I have been able to play for this long and hopefully many more years to go.

“I never thought I could achieve this feat or I would get to this stage. I always thought that I wanted to play for India. I never thought that this day would arrive. It just tells me that if you stay focussed on the process and stay focussed on the right things then these things become irrelevant after a while,” Kohli said after the second one-day international against the Windies.

Talking about his desire to contribute to the team’s cause, the Khel Ratna awardee got a bit philosophical and said that scoring runs for the team is his duty.

“My duty is to score runs and having done that for a long period now, everything has collected together for this moment. But the intention always is to look for what the team needs and score as many runs as possible.

“I have been able to push my physical and mental abilities by focussing on what the team needs and in that process more runs have been scored than otherwise,” Virat Kohli added.

Kohli, who broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record to become the fastest cricketer to score 10,000 ODI runs, stressed on the fact that he still works hard to score every run at the international level and spoke about the importance of maintaining the hunger for runs.

“It is a great honour for me to represent my country. Even after playing for 10 years I don’t feel like I am entitled for anything here. You still have to work hard for every run that you score at the international level, because there are a lot of people who want this very badly. When you are in that position, you should have the same hunger and not take anything for granted.

“If I have to dive six times in an over, I will do it because it is my duty and that is why I have been selected in the team. It is not doing anyone a favour or showing that I am committed, it is just about doing it for the team. That is my onlt intent,” the Indian captain signed off