Former Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan said Virat Kohli consistently demonstrated discipline to reach the level he eventually achieved in his career. Kohli worked hard on his fitness and consistently delivered in all formats of the game.
Dhawan observed Kohli’s journey from close quarters, playing with him for Delhi and then India. The former Indian opener said Kohli became even more serious after his father’s demise.
Kohli lost his father on 18th December 2006 when he was playing for Delhi in a Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka. The next day, the right-hander scored a brilliant knock of 90 runs and then performed his father’s last rituals.
Shikhar Dhawan said on Raj Shamani’s podcast, “Then there is Virat, with his mindset and discipline. The discipline that Virat adopted helped him elevate himself very quickly. I feel that when I saw him 10-15 years ago, he was already very disciplined and very inspiring. Now I can understand and relate to it more because I have more discipline myself. Then I suddenly remembered that Virat has always been disciplined; he has been like that from the beginning.”
“When Virat was young, around 16-17 years old, he was a bit soft-spoken. When he came and was with me, since I was the senior, he was with me. At that time, he was focused on food and then on the field, he wanted to play and score runs. He had a clear idea of his game and was always hungry for success. I feel that unfortunately, when his father passed away, his zeal was already there, but his seriousness increased even more. Even on the day his father passed away, he came to play a match and scored 95 runs, I remember that match clearly because I was there. After that, he never looked back,” he added.
On the other hand, Dhawan reckons Kohli drew a lot of inspiration from Portuguese football legend Cristiano Ronaldo.
“He has a strong mindset. Whenever you talk with him, even if he gets out early, he thinks about the next century and continues to work on his game. He always had a very clear understanding of his game. Then he worked on his fitness. At first, he was a bit soft, but he removed all the carbs and became very lean. I feel he looked up to Ronaldo a lot and learned from him. He adopted a similar lifestyle and his performance graph rose steadily.”
Kohli will next be seen in action in a three-match ODI series against Australia.
