Ishant, Kuldeep talk about their experience with captain Kohli

The faith that Virat Kohli has reposed in his bowlers has reflected in the team’s performance, particularly in red-ball cricket. Kohli enjoys one of the better bowling line-ups at his command, but the attack did not become formidable overnight but is a result of the backing and support it received from the skipper.

Ishant Sharma, who spearheads the pace attack in the longest format of the game, revealed how Virat Kohli gave him the freedom to do whatever he wanted but cautioned him about getting banned in the process.

“He is an aggressive captain; he loves it when you show aggression and he doesn’t tell you anything for that. He always says just get me the wicket and do whatever you want. He just tells me not to get banned. So, when I was banned in Sri Lanka he came again and said do everything you want but just don’t get banned,” Ishant said while chatting with Mayank Agarwal in a BCCI video.

Ishant was handed a one-match in September 2015 after he was found breaching ICC’s code of conduct during a Test against Sri Lanka; the ban forced him to miss the first Test against South Africa the month after.

Spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who has seen tremendous success under the leadership of Kohli, echoed similar sentiments.

“If your captain believes in you, giving your best on the field becomes easy. From Virat, we learn a lot of things like how to manage difficult situations. He never fails to motivate young players,” the 25-year-old told IANS in an interview.

“I remember when I was new in the team he backed me a lot. In fact, now also, he is always there for me. He always appreciates your skills and we have a great tuning together. The best quality of Virat is that he also understands the team and its player’s well which makes our job easy on field,” he added further.