That he is in the form of his life would be an understatement.
He is one of the most celebrated sportspersons on the globe. He recently signed a ₹100 crore deal. And very recently, he formally took over as India captain across all three formats, a job that is often deemed to be as high-pressured as that of the Prime Minister of India.
How does Virat Kohli, the run-machine, deal with that? “I don’t pay attention to it, so there is nothing to deal with,” Kohli said on Wednesday.
Just when you start thinking whether Kohli has started getting into the mould of many of his predecessors, who preferred not to speak their mind in public, comes the explanation. “I do my job on the field. I play a certain brand of cricket which I have always played. Obviously with age you tend to understand things better and become more aware of what needs to be done and what doesn’t,” he said.
“A lot of people lacked patience with me initially. They wanted me to be a 35-year-old mature guy when I was 22, which doesn’t really happen. I have gone through my gradual process.
“I am pretty confident of where my game stands and pretty comfortable with myself as a person now.
“People writing articles or speaking about certain things, that’s their job. I have no control over it. They have to criticise or not criticise and that’s also not in my control. I focus on my game and that’s my priority.
Contrary to the Australian approach, both skipper Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner have said sledging Kohli would be asking for trouble.
Buddies off the field
“I am really good friends with the Aussies. I know them well off the field. But, I know where to draw the line of friendship as well. When you step onto the field, I could be playing against my real brother, but it does not matter. If they had to criticise me, I would have been okay with it as it’s not something coming out of my mouth. I have no control over it,” he said.
“I am pretty focused and aware of what I need to do as a player on the field and what my team needs to do to win Test matches and series.
“I don’t know the reason behind it, there may not be any, and I am not here to speculate. On the field we are professional enough to realise that it’s a competition, but off the field we are comfortable with each other,” he said.
