Kolkata: Since leading the India Under-19 Team to a World Cup victory in Malaysia in 2008, there has been no looking back for Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli. Once written off as an arrogant young man whose over optimism could draw his nemesis, Kohli has proved all his detractors wrong as a performer and a leader. And one advice that has kept him going is from his idol Sachin Tendulkar. “When I approached him about my game, the advice I got from was to believe in your own game and believe in the way you want to prepare and do not follow someone and that helped and from that onwards, I was really comfortable,” said Kohli said at an event in Pune on Wednesday.
Talk of arrogance, Kohli acknowledges the fact that he didn’t win too many fans in the early days of his career. “I knew my strengths and weaknesses, but people did not like me as such. They were not too pleased with the way I presented myself, the way I was. My mistakes were not acceptable. That always gave me a mindset of doing things my way and finding a way to make it work, as there is no one way to do anything. You can have different ways, you can have different style till your intent is good,” said Kohli who has taken over from MS Dhoni as the captain of the ODI and the T20 teams as well.
But arrogance is a thing of the past as Kohli now is the captain of Team India. However, the Delhi guy says it feels surreal to be the leader in all the three versions of the game. “It is quite surreal. I never thought this day is going to come to my life. When I came to the team, I was always looking to perform, get more opportunities and build solid consistent career and contribute to the team in winning games,” said the Indian captain.
He may have skippered sides at the junior level, but leading India is a different ball game. “But being captain of India is whole different ball game all together. As they mention it, it is the hot seat in all different ways such as the attention, the praise, criticisms, all these things come along with it,” said Kohli who is all set to lead India in six limited overs games against England.
There is a saying that the job of the Indian cricket captain is the toughest after the country’s Prime Minister’s because of the enormous pressure that comes along. How does Kohli handle the pressure? “I won’t say it is not a stressful job, however, it is fun,” he said.
Kohli is also looking forward to leading India in a World Cup though he knows the road ahead will be tough. “Because, it is an honour to be a captain in the World Cup if I still (remain) captain of the team that time,” Kohli said.
(With inputs from PTI)