‘Jaha Matter Bade Hote he, Vaha Virat Bhai Khade hote he’ – Fans react over Virat Kohli’s insightful interview with Rahul Dravid post Ahmedabad Test
Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid (Source – Twitter)
The fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy ended in a draw, but India clinched the four-match series by 2-1. With this, the Men in Blue have also qualified for the Test Championship final against Australia. Both India and Australia will lock horns again at The Oval in London on June 7.
Although the Ahmedabad Test did not produce a result, the Indian fans witnessed some great batting performances from their players. Shubman Gill scored his second Test century, scoring 128 runs off 235 balls. While the star Indian batter ended his century drought in red-ball cricket as he scored his 28th hundred in Tests. The 34-year-old got out after scoring 186 runs off 364 balls as India ended on 571, and 91 runs ahead of Australia’s first-innings total.
Kohli was awarded Player of the match for his mammoth knock. It was also his 75th century in international cricket. After the match, India Head Coach Rahul Dravid took the interview of the Indian batter and asked him about his feeling about not scoring a ton in the red ball cricket for a long period of time. Kohli also answered every question with honesty.
“I know you are someone who takes a lot of pride in his performance and has that habit of scoring 100 regularly. I know there was COVID, so, not a lot of Test matches but has it been hard not to have scored a Test hundred (for this long)? I know we get a little obsessed with numbers. I’ve loved seeing some of the other innings. Even the 70 in Cape Town was a really good innings. But has (not scoring a hundred) been at the back of your mind?” Dravid asked Kohli during the interview for the Indian Cricket Board.
It was never about the milestones: Kohli
“Honestly, I’ve let the complications grow on me a bit because of my shortcomings. The desperation to get to the three-figure mark is something that can grow on you as a batsman. I let that happen to me to a certain extent. But a flip side to it is, I’m not a guy who is happy with 40-45. I take a lot of pride in performing for the team. It’s not like when Virat Kohli should stand out. When I’m batting on 40, I know I can get a 150. That was eating me up a lot. Why am I not able to get that big score for the team? Because I took pride in the fact that when the team needed me, I stood up, scoring in difficult conditions. The fact that I wasn’t able to do that, was bothering me,” Kohli replied to Dravid.
Kohli also said that he never cared about the personal milestones and added that he tries to bat as long as it benefits the Indian team.
“It was never about the milestones. A lot of people ask me, ‘how do you keep scoring those hundreds’. And I always say a hundred is something that happens along the way within my goal, which is to bat as long as possible for my team. But yeah, if I’m brutally honest, it does become a little difficult as the moment you step out of the hotel room, right from the guy outside, to the guy in the lift, the bus driver everyone is saying ‘we want a hundred’. So, it does play on your mind all the time but that’s also the beauty of playing for so long to have these complications come up and overcome these challenges,” he further added.
(2) Brown Munday on Twitter: “@mufaddal_vohra https://t.co/P4QTTnwfLu” / Twitter
(2) Rohit ka fan on Twitter: “@mufaddal_vohra Irony hori h ji bhut bhayankar” / Twitter
(2) ✶ ✶ on Twitter: “@mufaddal_vohra https://t.co/vfyDh1d5wW” / Twitter
