Virat Kohli Once Told Me 'He Felt He Was Over-aggressive', But Couldn't Stop Being One – Dav Whatmore
Updated - 04 Mar 2022, 01:35 PM
World Cup-winning coach and Virat Kohli’s Under-19 coach Dav Whatmore has revealed that the batting maestro once told him he was over-aggressive and was unable to stop being one.
Virat Kohli, who led India to the Under-19 World Cup victory in Malaysia in 2008, has now become only the 12th Indian cricketer and 71st international cricketer to play 100 Tests games.
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Meanwhile, India’s Under-19 team coach, Dav Whatmore, during Kohli’s tenure as captain, has said that young Kohli was different from other players during his U-19 days and he himself used to find solutions for his problems.
“I don’t remember him as much of a talker when the coaching staff was around. Kohli was not like some of the kids who always sought some advice or the other. Often, he found solutions by himself and worked hard to eliminate the chinks in his batting.
“The conversations we had about technique and other stuff were precise and to the point,” Whatmore wrote for The Indian Express.
Dav Whatmore further revealed how his advice helped Virat Kohli battle his over-aggressive approach while batting.
“The questions Kohli asked were straight and clear like he knew his game inside out. Once, he told me that he was unhappy as he often got out after getting started.
“He would score a quick 30 or 40 and then get out, often playing a careless shot. He told me he felt he was over-aggressive, but couldn’t stop being one. He was confused about when to start playing those big shots.”
“ I told him that he was already batting at a brisk pace and that there’s no need to play the big one until the 40th over. My advice was simple: Play the normal game till the 40th over, assess the game situation and then accelerate. The method worked, he started getting those big knocks and showed terrific game sense. Now he knows exactly when to push the run rate and when not to,” he said.
Right from those days, Virat Kohli had a good technique – Dav Whatmore
Whatmore also said that the 33-year-old Kohli had good batting technique even during his initial days in cricket.
“Right from those days, Kohli had a good technique and it was more a case of fine-tuning bits here and there, besides getting into good positions and trusting the basics. He was a more on-side player then. Lots of flicks and on-drives. He was not much of a cover-driver back then as he is now.
“The shot did not stand out then as it does today. Those were the shots he picked up along the way, I guess. That’s how great batsmen are, they are always learning something or the other,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dav Whatmore further added that Kohli was always involved in the game even when he was not batting. Whatmore labelled Kohli as an “extremely hardworking” player and said that he always wanted to keep improving his game.
“As one would know, Kohli was a bit of a livewire, always doing something or the other. When he was not batting, he was turning his arm over in some corner of the nets, or giving some throw-downs to other batsmen. He was extremely hardworking too.
“As the cliche goes, he was the first to enter the nets and the last to leave. He would keep on batting and tire out the bowlers. But one saw his hunger, he always wanted to keep improving, even though he was in fact quite evolved for his age,” Whatmore said.
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