NEW DELHI : Started from gully cricket 18 years back, Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli, who is often compared with Sachin Tendulkar has now transformed himself into an undoubted ‘Virat'(Giant) of the limited-over cricket.
The 27-year-old is one of those few batsmen who has arrived to this point at such an early stage of his career. He was fuelled by the art of chasing down big total in any given conditions and one could see his grit and determination in the recently concluded ninth edition of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL), a tournament which has become an annual gathering of the greatest proponents of batsmanship.
Simplest of all the styles and historically the most destructive one, Kohli started the current year on a brilliant note, he batted like a man possessed. He smashed three half-century during T20I bilateral series in Australia followed by the Asia Cup in 2016.
At the world stage, Kohli upped the ante and walked away with the Player of the Series award for the second successive edition. His thirst for run did not stop as he breached 900-run mark in a single edition of the IPL, which included four centuries and six fifties. Kohli, who is also known as ‘Chasemaster’, over-shadowed his past performances with his Bradmansque figures. Kohli not only proved his credentials in 2016 but stunned everyone with his array of shots.
He ended the ninth edition of the Indian league as well as World T20 as the leading run-getter. One can say that year 2011 became the turning point of his career as after playing as a reserve batsman for the initial stages in the national team, he was part of the squad that won 2011 World Cup. The same year, he reached the Numero Uno spot in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen. He also won the ‘Man of the Tournament’ award at the 2014 World T20I in Bangladesh and the 2016 World T20 in India.
The major transformation came about four years ago, it was all about changing the way he approached the game, he hung himself in the right frame of mind in any given circumstances. According to his manager Bunty Sajdeh, Kohli worked a lot on his fitness, in areas like strength and speed. Importantly, he lost weight, which has changed everything for him. The way he amassed runs in 2016 World T20 and IPL, one can easily figure out Kohli loves running twos. (AGENCIES)
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