‘I want to bat on this dangerous wicket’- Ex- India coach recalls incident that defined Virat Kohli’s temperament
Virat Kohli has wowed one and all with his wonderful batting exploits on the field. Kohli has another facet which sets him apart from his peers and that is the ability to be aggressive. His demeanour is such that his antics have a positive effect on the whole team and his positive energy just rubs off on everyone.
Former India fielding coach R Sridhar talked about the former India captain’s tenacity and temperament in an incident in his newly launched book “COACHING BEYOND: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team”.
The Indian Team at that time was present in South Africa. The Men in Blue played a full-fledged series against the Proteas. Sridhar said that India were getting ready for the Test series which they went on to lose 2-1. For practice, county grounds were provided and the batters were batting largely on the centre wicket. The wickets beside them were not used because of the dangerous characteristics that they possessed.
I want the throwdown specialist to bowl at his fastest – Virat Kohli
“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 practising, but the side wickets at Western Province in Cape Town were far from ideal.”, He said.
In the Test series, India won the last Test which was again played on a dangerous wicket to finish the series 2-1.
“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,” Sridhar added.
