I kind of knew straight away that Virat Kohli wasn’t operating in the best version of himself: Gary Kirsten
It takes a combination of talent and hard work to make it to the top. The saying holds true when one looks at international cricket for players who break onto the scene but soon wither away under the pressures of the international arena. From that aspect, India cricket, and even world cricket for that matter has been lucky enough for the raw talent of the Under-19 version of Virat Kohli to have crossed paths with the Indian coach at the time, Gary Kirsten who recognized his talents and was instrumental in nurturing his ability.
The Protean who masterminded India’s first World Cup win in 28 years, was also instrumental in introducing Kohli into the Indian setup. “Our relationship was formulated around him as a young player coming in, and me trying to say to him that he has a long way to go and to build in some consistent behaviors into the way he played this game,” feels Kirsten.
Speaking on The RK show on Youtube, Kirsten recalled his first few interactions with Virat where he recognized his raw talent which needed sculpting. “When I met Virat first up, he had great abilities and talent and he was a young guy. But I kind of knew straight away that he wasn’t operating in the best version of himself. So we had a number of discussions,” said Kirsten.
Throwing back to an ODI against Sri Lanka, Kirsten recounted an instance that would go on to shape Kohli’s incredible record as a master in run-chases. “I’ll never forget one when we were playing an ODI series against Sri Lanka, and he was batting beautifully and he was on 30-odd not out. He then decided that he would try and hit the (bowler) over long-on’s head for six. And he got holed out, recalled Gary. I just said to him, ‘If you’re going to take your cricket to the next level, you need to hit that ball down the ground for one. You know you can hit a lot of balls up the ground, but there’s a lot of risk attached to that.’ I think he took that on board, he got a hundred in the next one-day in Kolkata.”
Although Kirsten would vacate his position as the head coach of the Indian team post a successful 2011 world cup campaign, the Kirsten-Kohli duo would go on to then be reunited at RCB. Only this time, Virat was a finished product who would be one of the stars of international cricket. Safe to say, Guru Gary deserves some plaudits for the gem we possess today.
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