Cricket has taught me a lot more than anyone else: Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper believes the game itself has taught him more than anyone else in his career so far and he will continue to learn from it. Indian team returned from Sri Lanka earlier this week where they did not lose a single game on the tour having played 9 matches. Virat himself was in great form on the tour albeit in the limited-overs series.

India’s tour was a full-fledged one spanning across all the three formats and they returned triumphant whitewashing the hosts’ in Tests, ODIs and the one-off T20I. Also, the Men in Blue became the first visiting team ever to win all the matches on the tour. Kohli had a lean Test series by his standards but he made amends in the ODI series by scoring 330 runs in 5 matches with 2 consecutive centuries in last two games. He also scored a match winning 82 off just 54 balls in the only T20I against Sri Lanka which was the last game on the tour.

I have set a daily routine for myself

In an interview to India Today, the 29-year-old spoke about his rise as a player and his evolution in cricket since his debut. He also said that cricket has taught him more than his educational degree could have and it throws challenges at you on a regular basis. Kohli also mentioned that he has immense respect for the game.

“I don’t think anything apart from cricket has taught me more in life. I don’t think any educational degree would have taught me more in life than the sport has. It throws you to the ground, it urges you to get up, it tests you all the time, it observes you whether you have it in you to play for 15-20 years. Whether you have it in you on a daily basis. You’ll be thrown challenges on a regular basis. It’s not only about the big series or just happening once in two or three years,” the Indian skipper said.

He also stated that he has not achieved everything and he continues to grow and learn as a person and as a cricketer. “I still continue to grow as a person on a daily basis. You learn only by making mistakes and this sport will urge you to make mistakes. If you are good enough to learn from them then the sport gives you back and you can be on your journey,” the owner of 30 ODI centuries added.

He also went on to say that it doesn’t make any difference to him if someone is criticising or praising him as it won’t change his daily routine.

“To me criticism and praise is the same, it doesn’t matter to me whether people praise me or they criticise me because it does not deviate me from what I need to do on a daily basis and that’s to work hard. I have total responsibility of my failures and I respect my success equally. Because I have such a set routine on a daily basis I don’t need to go out there and explain anything to anyone. That’s something that has just developed inside me not in an arrogant way but I just don’t find the need to,” Virat stated.

“I just don’t feel like my life or my career or anything that I do should be or is controlled by people in any way. I don’t let people define who I am or how I need to live life in any way possible and that can only happen when you’re so sure of what you need to do on a daily basis,” a confident Kohli concluded.

The next assignment for Kohli & Co. is the Australia series starting from September 17 and then New Zealand and Sri Lanka again follow.