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Virat Kohli receiving CNN-News18's Indian of the Year award. (News 18)
That doesn't come as much of a surprise as Kohli has not only broken a host of records this year, but also created a few of his own. The Delhi lad recently, in a Test match against Sri Lanka scored his fifth double ton in in the longest format of the game, which is a record for any captain.
After winning the award, Kohli said, "It is difficult to express what I'm going through right now. Wherever I might be in life, I always remember where I come from. I have no expectations and no milestones. I just go out there to do my duty. For me the joy of life is seeing the ball hitting the middle of the bat."
This was the occasion where Kohli picked his favourite ton, out of the 51 he has scored so far. With much difficulty he said, "I think from the transition point of view, the hundred in the second innings at the Adelaide Test, where we almost won the match was something special to me. I will always remember that match."
"Instinctively from my heart, it came to me that I should speak to the team. I had a chat with the players at the team bus after fourth day's play and Australia had not declared their innings. I told them whatever target they give us tomorrow, we will go for it," he added.
"Nobody objected and then I told them to go to their rooms with the thought that we are going for the target tomorrow," said 29-year-old.
Though India might have fallen short of the target, but that gave a lot of self-belief to the team. "We came out (on the fifth day) thinking that we can do it (win). I was convinced that we can win the match. Not crossing the line hurt us but what we did as a team has given us a lot of belief that we can compete with any team in the world and beat anyone anywhere. We carried forward that attitude and now we are here," said Kohli.
Talking about his ward, coach Ravi Shastri said, "The X-factor in him is that he leads from the front. If he cannot do something, he will not ask others to do it. Where Virat has raised the bar in terms of fitness is, he has taken fitness to that level, and has optimised the level of skill. When the Indian team sees him putting in the yards, then they want to emulate him."
On comparison between Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, Shastri said, "Sachin was a complete batsman. Virat can be unorthodox, and mighty effective as his records show. They are two different players, but mighty effective."
First Published: December 1, 2017, 7:50 AM IST