Paddy Upton reveals one of the biggest turning points in Virat Kohli’s career

Virat Kohli was just three years old into international cricket when India won their 2^nd ODI World Cup. Their previous title had come 28 years ago. The trophy meant the world to some of the senior names, including Sachin Tendulkar. For Virat, it was not that emotional a moment, he would confess in an interview a few years later.

Kohli had experienced something so early into his career that had taken a lifetime of cricket for many. Then what was it that drove him to push the boundaries and reach where he is today – at the pinnacle of record books, alongside the greatest names of the game?

It was a realization Kohli had pretty early into his international career that helped him reach where he is today.

In an interview to the Times of India, Paddy Upton, Team India’s strength and mental conditioning coach during 2011 World Cup revealed about Kohli’s transformation from a slightly overweight cricketer to one of the fittest athletes in the world.

Upton said that Kohli’s realization that he needed to be the fittest in the world to be able to compete and succeed at the highest level of cricket was a turning point in RCB captain’s career.

“I am guessing one of the turning points came when Virat realized he was slightly overweight and only averagely fit, and that if he wanted to one of the best in the world, he needed to also be one of the physically fittest in the world. This change in attitude around his fitness, was one of the turning points.”

Upton feels that it was not just the fitness level that saw Kohli rise to the top of his game but also a change in his attitude regarding fitness and its importance in modern-day cricket.

“I highlight that it was not so much his change in fitness that directly translated to his rise to the top, but his attitude towards his fitness, and thus to himself and his game, that was real catalyst to go from good to great,” Upton said.

Speaking of Kohli’s captaincy and on-field marshaling of his troops, Upton added, “Virat is highly charged and energetic, and is someone who wears his emotions on his sleeve, which we can see by his regular emotional highs and lows on the field.”