Delhi: Team India’s great batsman Virat Kohli recently shared a special memory of the early days of the Indian Premier League (IPL) during a podcast, in which he explained how former South African wicketkeeper batsman Mark Boucher played an important role in giving a new direction to his career.
Talking to Mayanti Langer in a recent episode of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) podcast, Kohli said that he was surprised when Baucher recognized his ability and gave him necessary advice without any request.
Kohli said, “Initially, among the foreign players I played, Mark Boucher was the only person who had come with the idea that they would help young Indian players. They understood my weaknesses and told me without asking me what improvement I would have to make to reach the international level.”
Kohli said that in the first season of IPL 2008, there were distances between Indian and foreign players, but the wall was broken through golf playing and off-field activities. However, the behavior of the boucher was the most different and inspiring.
Kohli was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore after winning the Under-19 World Cup in 2008. In the first season, he had scored only 165 runs in 13 matches, but since 2010 there was a big change in his performance and today he is counted among the most successful batsmen of IPL.
Kohli shared how Boucher took him to the nets and his biggest weakness made him hard on ‘short ball’.
The right -handed batsman said, “He told me that if you want to stay in international cricket, he would have to work on a short ball. He bowled so fast with a tennis ball on me that I got nervous, but the same training proved to be a turning point for me.”
Kohli told what the boucher had told him during a match. The 36-year-old batsman said, “When I come to comment in India after three to four years and if you are not playing for India, then you will be doing injustice to yourself.”
Virat admitted that this thing of the boucher went home in his heart and he put him on the path of improving himself. The great batter said, “In the initial years, the boucher had a profound impact on me, and I still cannot forget his contribution.”
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