Five of the best moments from the Virat Kohli-Viv Richards conversation
The Indian skipper Virat Kohli has been smashing record after record in the Windies with his team, whitewashing them on their own turf in both the ODIs and T20s. Kohli turned anchor on the eve of the first Test match as he interviewed one of the greatest legends of the game, Sir Viv Richards.
The interview saw two of the greatest batsmen, having similar traits, talk about their experiences. Sir Viv Richards was considered to be one of the most impressive players of the front foot and one who bowlers feared to bowl to.
He made his ODI debut for the West Indies in 1975 against Sri Lanka and brought the curtains down to his illustrious career in 1991 against England at Lords. He scored 6,721 runs in 187 games with an average of 47. One of his best innings came against England in Manchester in 1984 where he scored an unbeaten 189 off 170 balls which included 21 boundaries and five sixes.
Virat Kohli began the interview by referring to Sir Viv as the greatest inspiration for batsmen all around the world.
Here are five of the best moments from the Sir Viv-Kohli conversation are as follows:
#1. Sir Viv's emphasis on expressing himself
Virat Kohli has been applauded several times for the passion and emotion with which he plays the game. Kohli plays with his heart of his sleeve and isn't one to back down from a challenge. Kohli went on to question Sir Viv about the challenges he faced in his career and how he maintained his self-belief in those testing times. In reply, Sir Viv said:
" I felt I was good enough to be competent, and I wanted to express myself in the best possible way."
He went on to say that he sees that trait in Kohli as wel and how at times they've both been opposed by people for being so passionate.
#2. Sir Viv speaking about self-belief:
In the first part of the interview Kohli questioned Sir Viv about what he thought of when he used to walk out to bat without a helmet. In reply, Sir Viv said:
"I believed I am the man."
He went to say that he was prepared to get hit and would back himself in all circumstances.
#3. Kohli saying what helped him in the tour of Australia in 2014
Virat Kohli went through one of the roughest patches in his cricketing career in 2014 in England. The Indian skipper scored 134 runs in the five-match Test series against England which consisted of two ducks, with his highest score being 39. Kohli went to say how he prepared for the tour of Australia. He said what helped him was visualization. He said:
3 months before going to Australia, I started visualizing that I am taking these bowlers on and I am going to dominate and come out on top.
This speaks volumes of Kohli's self-belief and how he redeemed himself in the tour against Australia where he scored four centuries.
#4. Kohli and Viv share a similar view of net practice before a game being claustrophobic
Out of the multiple similar traits, an interesting similarity between Kohli and Richards is that both of them felt net sessions to be claustrophobic. Kohli went to say that he preferred batting in an open center wicket against the bowlers with fielders which aided him with his match simulation.
#5. Kohli emphasizing on the importance of doing the right things outside the cricket field
Sir Viv went on to applaud Kohli towards the end of the interview, saying that he is currently playing the best cricket he has ever played to which Kohli replied saying that he has been blessed to have found the right person in his life, his wife. He said that he believed that it helps you enhance your personality on the field if you do the right things outside it.
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