However, after meeting with India’s head coach Rahul Dravid after the Ahmedabad Test, Kohli was asked if the century drought in Tests was ‘hard’ for him. The batter responded in a ‘brutally honest’ manner. In a video shared by BCCI.TV, Dravid asked Kohli if it was ‘hard’ for him to go so long without scoring a Test century.
Virat responded, saying: To be honest, I’ve allowed the complications to creep up on me due to my own shortcomings. As a batsman, I believe the desire to reach the three-figure mark can grow on you. We’ve all been there at some point in our lives. To some extent, I believe I was responsible for what happened to me.
But, on the other hand, I am not a guy who is content with 40 or 45 runs. I am someone who takes great pride in contributing to the team. Virat Kohli isn’t supposed to stand out. I know I can get a 150 here when I’m batting on 40, which will help my team.
That was really getting to me. Why can’t I get that big score for the team because I’ve always taken pride in performing for the team when they needed me, even in difficult conditions and situations? He went on to say.
Kohli then gave a ‘brutally honest’ explanation, saying that it wasn’t the fact that he didn’t get a hundred that bothered him, but the fact that he couldn’t help the team as much with the bat as he had been.
The fact that I couldn’t do that bothered me. It’s not so much a milestone as I don’t play for it. ‘How do you keep scoring a hundred?’ a lot of people ask. I always told them that a hundred is something that happens along the way to my ultimate goal of batting as long as possible for the team and scoring as many runs as possible.
As a result, the milestone is never my primary focus. But, to be brutally honest, it does become a little complicated because the moment you step out of the hotel room, everyone says we want a hundred, from the guy outside the room to the guy in the lift to the bus driver. So, it’s like, it has an effect on your mind, he stated.
The 34-year-old said near the end of the interview that he is relieved to have gotten the monkey off his back before the World Test Championship final.
But I think that’s the beauty of playing for so long: having these complications and challenges come and go. When everything comes together, as it did in this game, it gives you an extra boost to go above and beyond, to go further, to start enjoying cricket a lot more and to be excited for what’s to come.
I’m just grateful that it happened right before the World Test Championship final. I’ll definitely be going there relaxed He came to a conclusion.
