Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid
Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid. Image Credits: Twitter

Indian cricket has always been blessed with world-class batters including Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and now Virat Kohli, with several others in the past. Kohli in the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023, emerged as the highest run-getter from team India, and he also scored his 28th century in the longer format of the game since 2019.

The current Indian head coach, Rahul Dravid after the team’s victory in the BGT 2023 series by 2-1 and drawn test match at Ahmedabad, interviewed the ace Indian batter on his astonishing feat that includes a special ton after the gap of three years in Test cricket.

Virat Kohli century at Ahmedabad
Virat Kohli’s century at Ahmedabad. Image Credits: Twitter

In a video shared by BCCI.TV, the head Indian coach was seen asking questions to Kohli about his century drought-

“To be honest, I’ve led the complications to grow on me a little bit because of my own shortcomings. I think the desperation to get the 3-figure mark is something that can grow on you as a batsman. We’ve all experienced that at some stage or the other. I think I led that happen to me to a certain extent,” said the former Indian skipper.

The former Indian skipper was struggling to score in the longer format of the game for the Asian Giants, the star Indian batter had last scored a Test century in November of 2019 against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Since then, he couldn’t reach the three-figure mark in international cricket till Asia Cup 2022.

“But also the flip side to it is that I am not a guy who is happy with 40 or 45 runs. I am someone who always takes pride in performing for the team. It’s not like Virat Kohli should stand out. When I am batting on 40, I know I can get a 150 here and that will help my team. That was eating me up a lot.

“Why am I not able to get that big score for the team because I always took the pride in performing for the team when it needed me, in difficult conditions and difficult situations,” he further added.

The 34-year-old was awarded player of the match for his 186-run knock in the fourth test match of BGT 2023. His knock ensured India averted the possibility of a loss in the Test match, the former Indian skipper was dismissed by Todd Murphy, and with Kohli’s wicket, the home side folded their first innings for 571 runs at Ahmedabad Test.

“The fact that I wasn’t able to do that was bother me. Not so much the milestone as such as I don’t play for it. A lot of people ask me this question, ‘how do you keep scoring a hundred?’. I always told them, a hundred is something that happens along the way within my goal which is to bat as long as possible for the team and get as many runs as possible.

“So, the milestone is never my focus. But yes, I have to be brutally honest, i does become a little complicated because the moment you step out of the hotel room, right from the guy outside the room to the guy in the lift to the bus driver, everyone is saying we want a hundred. So, it’s like, it does play on your mind,” stated ace Indian batter.

Kohli will be seen in the upcoming ODI series against Australia, starting on March 17 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. India will play three matches ODI series against the Aussies and after that IPL 2023 will begin on 31st March. After the conclusion of the IPL, Men in Blue will play the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Australia on 7th June 2023.

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