It was 2008 when Virat Kohli’s India beat South Africa in the final to clinch the ICC Under-19 World Cup. Dav Whatmore, who was the team coach, saw a young Kohli dive and slide on the mushy Kuala Lampur stadium. He was behaving like a brash kid who just wanted to win the trophy at all costs. Meanwhile cut to 2022, Whatmore is Vadodara coach is quite focused on Ranji Trophy preparations. But one thing he just can’t push under the rug is Kohli’s transformation. How a brash under-19 kid went on to become India’s finest Test captain.
“It was when Virat Kohli became captain of the U-19 team that I started noticing him. Even in those relatively young years, he knew how to organise a team and get the best out of his fellow cricketers. He was super-motivated and always led from the front, often with a spectacular fielding effort or a good knock. On the field, he might be emotional, but deep inside he was always composed, read the game beautifully and knew what to get from himself as well as those around him,” Whatmore told The Indian Express.
Today, Kohli’s cover drive is one of the biggest eye catcher. He just leans onto it and plays it straight through the fielders. But back then, he was more of a on-side player, Whatmore said.
“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.”
There’s an interesting tale. How Kohli had told his Under-19 mates that he would buy his first car with the IPL money, and he did.
“Kohli would set his eyes on the ultimate prize and sweat extremely hard to realise it. He always wanted to win the U-19 World Cup, as if nothing else would satisfy him; it happened around the time of the first Indian Premier League auction and there was a lot of talk, amongst the boys, about the possibility of some of them being picked. He told some of his teammates that he wanted to buy his first car with the money he got from the league and bought one soon after that.”
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