Virat Kohli is easily the most documented personality in the Indian sporting landscape. His game, mental fortitude, batting technique and even love life have received much media and public attention.
One area that hasn’t been covered as much – at least in comparison to the list of items just mentioned – is the physical fitness of the nation’s biggest cricket star. It isn’t all that surprising given India, as a country, is not very big on fitness anyway.
But Kohli, 27, focused on body rather than mind when he was asked at a promotional event in Delhi on Wednesday to explain the inner workings behind the most successful season of his eight-year international career.
Apparently a lean patch with the bat during the 2012 Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament acted as the catalyst for him to give his game more range and depth.
“Until IPL 2012, I did not focus much on the physical aspect,” said the man who tops the world Twenty20 batting rankings and is second on the one-day international table.
“I never got into the minute details of fitness – things like what I need to eat from morning to night, how much I need to work out and how much I need to train.
“After that IPL, I started listening to my body. I made a lifestyle choice,” he added.
As a result of his hard work, Kohli has expanded his repertoire of shots. He is also able to bat longer, sustain his hitting for a longer period of time and do it nearly every time he walks out to the middle.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore captain scored an eye-popping 973 runs in the IPL this season, including four hundreds and seven fifties in just 17 games, as he all but won the title for his franchise.
What Kohli said next is most instructive when it comes to his own career and those of his India teammates.
“I wanted to explore a new side of my body to take me to the next level because I never wanted to be average,” he said. “I wanted to [be] best in the world.
“I always had that mindset but never had the physical ability.”
That is precisely the reason why the native of Delhi is on a different level to those with whom he shares the dressing room, such as Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, and particularly Rohit Sharma.
Rohit, more than a year older than Kohli and without a doubt a more capable batsman, has struggled to keep up with his Test captain.
Kohli has played 171 ODIs, scored 7,212 runs at an average of 51.51 and hit 25 hundreds, while Rohit has played 148 games, aggregated 5,008 runs at 42.08 and crossed the three-figure mark 10 times.
Those are not bad numbers from the Mumbai boy, and he remains the only player ever to score two double-centuries in ODIs. But his career has been chequered by way too many wasted opportunities.
When this writer met Rohit more than a decade ago, he carried a lean and mean figure – as a teenager should.
He, however, looked older than his 29 years as he seemed to have put on a bit of weight during the IPL last month. He also appeared sluggish across the green, which is alarming, considering how good a fielder he is.
His temperament has often come under scrutiny, especially in pressure situations. But maybe, just maybe, it is more a question of body than of mind as far as he is concerned, like in the case of Kohli.
If Rohit pushed himself harder in the gym or on a yoga mat or on the beach, would he be able to score more runs?
He would certainly be able to shed excess weight and, perhaps, some of that lethargy that has often dogged his batting.
Maybe, just maybe, he would be able to raise his game to the level that everyone, not least he himself, expects.
Like Kohli said on Wednesday, “when you become fit, you feel you can do anything”.
ckadalayil@thenational.ae
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