2014 England failure a milestone in my career: Virat Kohli

Tags: India, England, Virat Kohli

Published on: Jul 26, 2020

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli has termed his disastrous tour of 2014 to England as a milestone in his career. Kohli, who went to England on a high, managed only 134 runs in 10 innings, and failed to cross the fifty mark even once.

The skipper though learnt from his mistakes, and had a stupendous series in 2018, during which he scored 593 runs in five Tests, averaging 59.30 with two hundreds and three fifties. Speaking to Mayank Agarwal for BCCI, Kohli stated that the failure in England taught him to be fearless.

“If I say I wasn’t nervous in 2014, I would be lying. I was very nervous before the first Test started. 2014 was a milestone in my career from where I thought things might go bad from there.

"I sat back and changed a few things, the way I thought the game, the way I approached the game, and played the game. I started being more fearless,” said Kohli.

Looking back at his learnings from the series, the 31-year-old added, "In Test cricket, I realised it gets tough to maintain your composure for a cricketer. That’s what I needed to correct in me and if that tour hadn’t happened, I would not have continued the way I have.”

The skipper further said that his discussions with Ravi Shastri and Sachin Tendulkar following the 2014 tour also proved to be fruitful as he got a number of useful tips. “I came back and studied the footage. In this age, bowlers find your weaknesses so quickly and start targetting the area you are uncomfortable with.

"I spoke to Sachin-paaji and had a few sessions with him in Mumbai. I was focusing on the hip position but he made me realise the importance of big strides and forward press against the fast bowlers,” Kohli said.

“Ravi called me to his room with a bat. After his suggestions, I started standing outside the crease. He explained the mindset behind it. You should be in control of the space you are playing in and not to give the bowler so many opportunities to get you out," the Indian captain further revealed.

Considered one of the greatest players ever, Kohli has amassed 7240 runs from 86 Tests with 27 hundreds at an average of 53.62.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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