Former captain Virat Kohli continues to be the most popular face in the cricket world. Apart from his impeccable batting skills and a plethora of records that he has under his name, Virat has always been praised for his man-management skills and ability to take forward a team together. Time and again, we have seen his colleagues and youngsters coming out in open commending his attitude.
Kohli never shies away from sharing the wealth of knowledge that he possesses about the game to the young and budding cricketers. Be it during the IPL games or international games, he is often seen sharing his wisdom with young cricketers.
Now, recently the young Indian women’s team batter Jemimah Rodrigues reminisced about her interaction with the former captain at a hotel cafe in New Zealand.
Speaking on ‘The Ranveer Show’ Jemimah Rodrigues revealed how she and Smriti Mandhana had asked Kohli to meet just for a few minutes but they ended up talking for four hours. She revealed:
“Smriti and I had the opportunity to talk to him. We had asked him ‘we want to speak to you Virat bhaiya about batting. Can we meet?’. We were in the same hotel in New Zealand. He was like ‘yeah sure, come’. So he called us at the cafe and Anushka Sharma was also there. We had asked him for just a few minutes but we ended up speaking for four hours. We spoke half an hour about batting but after that it was just normal things,”
Rodrigues also revealed the piece of advice she received from King Kohli. The 21-year-old cricketer said that she asked Virat about the ‘pressure of expectations and what helps him thrive in pressure situations’. She revealed:
“A lot of things were spoken. We spoke a lot about batting so I think I am privileged like that. I get to meet such people. At the right time, we met them and they’ve actually inspired me and helped me at that phase I was in,”
She added:
“I asked him about how to handle expectations. I told him ‘You are Virat Kohli. If you’ve scored a fifty, it’s like you have underperformed for people. So how do you handle that expectation?’ He said ‘for me everytime I am out there on the field, I just look at the scoreboard and just focus on it. Do that and don’t focus on crowd and what I can do to help India win. If I stop giving these expectations importance, and just look at the process, the results will automatically follow’.”
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli is all set to make his 100th Test appearance in the 1st Test match against Sri Lanka in Mohali on March 4. It is a huge milestone for him and his fans are waiting anxiously for the big day.
