Virat Kohli revealed how stepping up to bat during the England tour in 2018 proved challenging especially after the horror show four years earlier. During the 2014 series, Kohli scored just 134 runs from 10 innings – worst returns for a batter who played all five Tests.
“My heart was pumping because all I could think of was the flashes of 2014. I walked in and there were about 35,000 people at the stadium and they all started booing the moment I entered the field. My heart started beating faster. They have this amazing ability to create an environment where you feel like I have got no chance here,” recalled Kohli during an episode of RCB Podcast Season 2.
When India toured in England, Kohli was done in by England seamer James Anderson four times. On return to England in 2018, Kohli was a transfored batter and he produced 539 runs with two centuries and three fifties to emerge as the highest scorer in the series.
“I remember James Anderson was the guy running with the ball, and I was like, what are the odds here I am facing the first ball from him again after four years. In my mind, I was like ‘please just play the first ball and he bowled it at the fourth stump and I left that ball’. I became calm after that first ball and then I got dropped at 22. I could have got out on 22 in that innings but I got 149 and I didn’t look back from there, so that’s when you realised that you just can’t sit there and crib about things that didn’t go right. There are a lot of things that went right. So much weight was lifted from my shoulder,” he said.
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Then 30 years old, Kohli was eager to turn things around that he signed a contract with county side Surrey but a neck injury during the IPL kept him out.
“I was going to play county cricket before the 2018 series. I was a bit nervous because I thought I needed to prepare more. But then I had a neck issue in 2018 I fell ill in one of the IPL games and I could not go there because It aggravated,” said Kohli.
Kohli, now 34, also recalled how then Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate AB de Villiers gave him valuable advice. “I spoke to him that I am feeling a bit jittery because I am not able to go and play in the county. He said this is not 2014, and you are not the same player. You would be absolutely fine. I became very calm after that,” he said.
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The right handed batter revealed he kept pondering about his own journey, his own inclination to prove everyone else in 2014 rather than focus on the team. He acknowledged that played a role in the dreadful series.
“Before going to England in 2014, I had a good series at home against New Zealand. I scored a century and a 70. I was high on confidence.
“When we went to England in 2014, I thought I needed to prove myself here – that was wrong in the first place. Because I went there to prove something that I can play in these conditions and not go there to, kind of, make my team win, that wasn’t my focal point. My main aim was (that) I need to prove that I can play here. I was always under pressure. It was a very bad phase,” he said.
Even as Kohli returned to runs after the 2014 England series, the question mark remained that he hadn’t performed in tough, seam friendly conditions.
“From 2014 to 2018, I did everything everywhere in the world and performed in every condition. But people just held on to one thing: ‘Oh! But what about England?’ That’s when I realised that probably I played cricket at a level which I’m certainly very proud of. I have won so many games for the team, but people are constantly looking at things which have not gone right,” said Kohli.
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