‘I want to bat on this dangerous wicket’ – When Virat Kohli didn’t listen to his coach and made a bold decision to bat on a horrible pitch

Virat Kohli is well-known throughout the world for his masterful batting, but there is another quality that sets him apart from the competition: his temperament. Fans have frequently been mesmerized by his antics on the field, and R Sridhar describes yet another intriguing incident that exemplifies his strong mentality in his recently published book, “COACHING BEYOND: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team.”

The Indian men’s cricket team’s former fielding coach, Sridhar, recalls a time in 2018 when the squad was in South Africa for a full-fledged series that included all three formats.

According to Sridhar, the visitors were given access to a county field for practice while India was getting ready for the Test series, which India lost 1-2. The visitors were mostly seen practising their batting on the centre wicket, and the pitches adjacent to it were left empty due to the pitch’s danger.

He quickly padded up, called Sanjay, Raghu, and myself, and said he wanted to bat: R Sridhar

The support crew had warned Kohli not to bat on the inactive tracks, but he immediately padded up and made the decision. Instead, he requested that the throwdown experts bowl at him with full force, demonstrating his attitude toward taking on new challenges.

“Before that England series, we were in South Africa in January 2018 preparing for a Test series. They had given us a county ground for practice. The pitches were horrible. There was one centre wicket on which we were practising, but the side wickets at Western Province in Cape Town were far from ideal,” said Sridhar wrote recalling the incident.

“Virat saw that nobody was batting on the wicket because it could be a bit dangerous. He quickly padded up, called Sanjay, Raghu, and myself, and said he wanted to bat. We tried to dissuade him, but he was adamant he wanted to bat on the surface. ‘I want it to be dangerous, I want to bat on this dangerous wicket and I want Raghu to bowl at his fastest’,” asserted the former fielding coach.

“That is what he did. He did that every time. He put himself under severe distress in difficult conditions and ensured he overcame it. So he was honing his skill, he was also sharpening himself mentally,” the former fielding coach wrote recalling the incident,” he added.