Virat Kohli feels breaking Sachin Tendulkar's record is impossible

Indian captain Virat Kohli played a scintillating knock in the first ODI against England. He not only scored a century but also stitched a 200 runs partnership with Kedar Jadhav who also scored his second ODI hundred. The duo took the team out of troubles where they were 63/4 at one stage and gave enough belief to chase down 351.

Former England captain Naseer Hussain was in awe of what Kohli was scripting on the cricket field. He used the term ‘King Kohli’ often during commentary and read praises of him right through the inning. Ahead of the match Hussain got hold of the Indian skipper for a candid chat on bcci.tv and asked him about what goes inside his head while he does what he does.

They also talked about what went wrong for him in England where he failed miserably and what he has changed to bring about the change. “I had put too much pressure on myself before going to England (2014) that I needed to score here. I don’t know why sub-continent players are given different benchmarks that we have to perform in certain countries and if you don’t do that, you are not considered a good player.

“I think it was more about me being desperate to do well in England and then when you don’t do well at start, you start going down mentally,” Kohli said.

He emphasized that it was not just the technique that determines a player but also the mindset that sets them apart. “Technique is important but even people with not that strong technique have been able to score well there because of a good mindset. The problem with me was that I was expecting inswingers too much and opened up my hip a lot more than I should have done. I was constantly looking for the inswinger and was in no position to counter the outswing.”

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After England, Team India travelled to Australia and Virat was extremely successful there. Though the team couldn’t win he scored 4 Test centuries on the tour which is a record in itself. “Short ball was not an issue for me. That really helped me in widening my stance and that forward press (front foot stride) that is important at the international level. So in Australia, I wasn’t worried about pace and bounce as I knew that I could handle it. But I stood a foot outside the crease to counter those deliveries on the corridor (of the off-stump) and standing on the fourth stump. So they had to really bowl far from me and unless my bodyweight is far behind, they can’t hit my pads.” He said while explaining what he changed to succeed in Australia.

He had to train his body for that movement to become natural and practiced that shot 400-500 times to be able to play it in the match and with perfection.

“This change has become easy now but it was not so at the beginning. I was batting three hours a day. I had cramps in my forearms by the end of the week. I did that for about 10 days. You know in golf they say you have to hit a shot 400-500 times before you can perfect that shot. So it was more about precise practice as I wanted to tune my head to play that way. I wasn’t used to forward pressing as I was waiting for the ball to clip it off my leg or waiting for short ball.”

He approached master blaster Sachin Tendulkar for advice and he suggested that he should move towards the ball against the pacers like he does against the spinners.

“There Sachin helped as he told me that I have to approach a fast bowler (forward press) just like you approach a spinner. One has to get on top of the ball not worry about pace or swing, you got to get towards the ball and give the ball lesser chance to move around and trouble you. Those advice helped me and became my second nature.”

When he broke into international cricket one could make out that he was a predominantly on-side player. The movement and his posture helped him play most balls on the on-side though he had a beautiful cover drive back then as well he has now mastered his off-side game and that is what makes him a complete cricketer.

“Bat speed has been natural to me more towards on-side as I have been a bottom hand player. I worked on my off-side play a lot more. I used to hit past covers a lot and straight but the shot I hit past point is helping me a lot now. It’s a very minor adjustment to my grip.

“I know bowlers are hesitant to bowl on my pads as I can whip them so I know they would bowl a bit wide and I get deep into my crease, open the bat face and hit the bowler past point. Once you do that, he can either move fielder towards right or left, but they won’t understand its a minor adjustment.”

To be a step ahead of the bowler he observes their body language and judges what they are about to do. “I don’t nominate too many areas. It’s like point, covers, straight and mid-wicket to cow corner. I know if the ball is in these areas my body instinctively follows,” he said.

Naseer asked him how he manages his time and how he is able to do so much. Virat then said that he doesn’t have many people close to him and that as a blessing in disguise helps him save time and invest it in his own development be it cricket or fitness. “Luckily, I don’t have too many people in my life that I am close to. I think that helps. If you have too many people and too many friends you speak to, you get distracted and your time management becomes impossible,”

He is one of those who believes in not limiting themselves and keeping the upper bracket open to keep growing. “I think, somewhere as sportsmen, we somehow already limit ourselves to what we do without even knowing how much we can do. That’s something I never put a limit on. I always love to explore my maximum ability as far as my intensity in the field is concerned. And even with managing time, the day I get burnt out is the day, I start cutting down on things. I never put any limitations on what I want to do in life.” Virat said.

At 28, Virat has already scored 27 ODI hundreds and 15 Test hundreds to his name. He is already knocking at a lot of records and most experts back him to break Sachin’s record, talking about that the Indian skipper said, “I might not play that long (24 years). 200 Tests, 100 international centuries. Those are incredible numbers and will be impossible to achieve. But yes, I want to make a difference and always believe that I must leave the game on a better note.”