BENGALURU: For 23 Tests and 41 innings between November 2019 and March 2023, Virat Kohli endured an uncharacteristic century drought in the five-day format. It was also a phase during which he stepped away from the Indian Test captaincy, as one of the leanest stretches of his career unfolded.Reflecting on that difficult period, Kohli said the two men who stood firmly by him were then India head coach Rahul Dravid and batting coach Vikram Rathour.Speaking at the RCB Innovation Lab’s Indian Sports Summit at the Centre of Excellence here on Monday, Kohli opened up about how the duo helped him rediscover both his form and his joy for batting.“Whenever I see or meet them, I always thank them from the bottom of my heart because they really took care of me in a way that made me feel like I want to play for them. I want to perform, grind it out and do the hard work for them. They made me realise what I have done so far,” he said.“It’s a very thin line between being cautious and being insecure. You always feel like you’re never good enough. And that’s the imposter syndrome. You have to keep up with your own standards. They understood that. Rahul Bhai, of course, has done that way better than a lot of people in Test cricket at the highest level. Vikram Rathour too had been around for so many years. So they understood what I was feeling. And they could relate to it. And they really took care of me mentally. They put me in a space where I could enjoy my cricket again,” Kohli elaborated.‘DON’T BELIEVE IN WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT’Kohli, who spoke about leadership coming naturally to him, also outlined why he didn’t believe in the concept of workload management, which is the focal point of multi-format players.“I don’t believe in managing workload while you’re in the thick of things and your careers are growing. You have to understand your maximum limit first. And then from there, you understand the balance on how much you can do or when you need to start tapering it down. But you can’t start managing early in your career; you’ll never reach your full potential otherwise. That’s the way I operate,” explained Kohli, who currently plays only ODIs for the country.A veteran of 123 Test matches, Kohli made an interesting observation of people relating drive to the money which is being offered by T20 cricket.Asked what still keeps him going, he replied, “It’s the drive. A lot of people relate drive to money nowadays. Yes, it’s a big factor because when a format that gives you the hype and the recognition, the fame by scoring 40-50 off 20 balls and the kind of money that people can make in the IPL today, it can put you in a very comfortable space and say, you know what? This is brilliant. I don’t need to handle pressure for too long. I can just go out there and smash the ball,”For longevity, the mantra according to Kohli is, “..Or you can say, I want to play for 15-20 years. I want to get recognition and respect of the cricketing world, of my own heroes and I want to fulfil this opportunity. That’s a very different zone. You have to be very driven to be able to say, I’m going to commit to this for the next 10-15 years and it’s going to be very, very hard but I’m up for it.”
