India’s veteran batter Virat Kohli has revealed that he promised himself to play freely and not get bogged down by the weight of expectations. It has been noted in the recent past that Kohli is playing with more freedom and he is adopting an aggressive approach from the get-go.
This new lease of life is helping Kohli in producing the runs at a better rate and more importantly, the consistency has been maintained by the batter. In the last ODI series against England, the talismanic batter scored 144 runs in three matches at an average of 48 with a strike rate of 109.09, the best for any batter with more than 100 runs in the series.
Virat Kohli said in an interview with JioStar, “What’s changed is, firstly, I promised myself that I’m going to play more freely. I’m not going to worry about the expectations that people might have around me. My role had always been, for a long period of time, that I’m going to stabilise things.”
“I know I can play, I know I can hit shots. But the demands are such that if it’s a tricky situation and you are playing on a tricky pitch, you eventually get into a space where you’re like, I can hit, but I’ve been given a role.”
Kohli said he would look to continue his aggressive approach unless the game situation demands him to play differently.
“I am making a conscious effort that if I’m set to make a difference in the game, where you can get 30-40 extra runs. I want to stay in a space where, if I’m choosing not to take a risk, it’s because I’m setting up eventually to get to a point where I say, okay, now press the accelerator down,” said Kohli (via the aforementioned source).
“The game is changing in a way that, especially if the conditions are fast-paced and good, and other teams are looking to push you towards 340-350, we should be able to get 350-360 as well. I’m very willing to take risks now because I know that if I make runs there, we’ll get 350-360 easily. And if I do that and play longer, then I can hit more at the end.”
Kohli would look to deliver against the West Indies.
