Sachin Tendulkar’s advice has helped Virat Kohli turn things around

The Indian team and Virat Kohli, in particular, was shown the mirror last time that they toured England in 2014. He went there having scored plenty of runs and with the reputation of being the rising star of Indian batting. But Virat was nowhere close to his best as James Anderson & Co. troubled him big time with the moving ball. It was a major failure in his career and India lost the series 3-1.

The current Indian Test skipper recently said that an advice from legend Sachin Tendulkar after the tour of England made a big difference in moulding him into the cricketer he is today. He always looked up to Tendulkar as an inspiration and his suggestion has really helped him come a long way in very little time.

After the conclusion of the fourth Test against England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai where Team India won the series, 3-0 Virat said, “The best advice was not to read or look up things that were being said about me. I’m not joking or trying to be sarcastic. That was the best advice I got,”

“That was one thing that kept pulling me back as far as Test cricket is concerned,” Kohli added.

“Being captain took my mind more off those things because I had absolutely no time to read up or hear what people had to say about me.

“It was all about thinking about what the team has to do and that has helped me immensely to stay focused on what I have to do on the field,” the Test skipper said.

In the series in 2014, Virat batted in 10 innings and could only manage 134 runs with the best score of 39. Since then he has turned things around and 2016 has been the best year for him with the willow and while leading the team as well. In the ongoing series against England, he has already scored more than 600 runs in 4 Test matches which include his career best score of 235.

Watch Virat talks about the particular advice and more:

Virat Kohli: I think somehow people enjoyed calling me not a good Test Player and that motivated me to excel in this format.

Via NDTV pic.twitter.com/SLQRaLIJP2

— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) December 13, 2016