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Cricket - 'Hit a rock bottom': Virat Kohli recalls forgettable 2014 England series

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Aug 05, 2021, 07:21 PM IST
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Photograph:(AFP)

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He recalled his pep talk with Sachin Tendulkar and how his advice helped him change his play. 

Indian skipper Virat Kohli has been an absolute superstar for the Men in Blue. His records and stats are mind-boggling in the world of cricket. However, the prolific batsman has gone through some of the darkest phases in his career. 

One such phase was the forgettable series of England in the year 2014 when the Indian batsman scored just 134 runs from four Tests and averaged just over 13 with scores of 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0, 7, 6 and 20. However, he bounced back in form during the tour of Australia, later that year when he scored 692 runs in four Tests. 

"To be honest before that Australia tour, I was treating every foreign tour like, more like an engineering exam, that I have to pass somehow and I have to show people that I can play at this level," Kohli told Dinesh Karthik in an interaction on Sky Sports.

"There I realised that once you are down and out, there was hardly anyone who came to help me, there was hardly anyone who was looking towards me and saying listen let’s work together and you know try to get your game up to speed, everyone was just going after me left, right and centre. So, I was like I am playing to prove these people long, for what, I have got nothing to do with them, they literally have nothing to contribute in my life."

"So, I went back home, I was down for quite a bit, the great thing that happened at that stage was, I realised who is with me, who’s not, things were filtered to an extent that I just got so relaxed when I went back home, I was like okay. I have hit a rock bottom now, no one believes in me, everyone thinks I should not be playing Test cricket, so what can I do, I can just work hard as I can," Kohli elaborated.

He recalled his pep talk with Sachin Tendulkar and how his advice helped him change his play. 

"I went into a bubble, I went to Bombay as well, I called Sachin Tendulkar, I asked for his help, I said I want to get my game right, I want to understand what it is like to score runs at this level, my mindset was simple. I went back home and I told myself, listen you can’t play Test cricket to show people that you can play in England, Australia and not get out. If you don’t score it is not a point, you play this game to make your team win. So my mindset was I am going to go to Australia and how I am going to score runs against these guys.

"I wasn’t going out there to survive, and from the time I got back home till the Australia tour, I promise you I was visualizing everyday, when I was working out in the gym, that I am hitting Mitchell Johnson, I am hitting these guys all over the park. Those things came to life eventually because I convinced myself to an extent, when I went there I was absolutely fearless and things just started flowing."