Indian skipper Virat Kohli recently addressed media ahead of his 99th and decider match of three match series against SA in Cape town which will begin from Tuesday. Right from bringing new flair in India’s bowling line-up in the longest format of the game to his current form with the willow in last 2 years where he hasn’t scored any International century in 60 innings in detail.
He said that this is not the first time his form is under scrutiny and he don’t assess his performance from outside point of view instead he look at his contribution he has made in winning cause in last one calendar year.
It’s not the first time [my form has come under scrutiny],” Kohli said. “It’s happened a few times in my career – England 2014 was one of those phases. But look, the thing is, I don’t look at myself from the lens that the outside world looks at me with, and eventually the standards that we’re talking about today, that I’m being compared with, have been set by myself, and more than anyone else, I take a lot of pride in wanting to do the best thing for the team that I can, and wanting to perform regularly for the team, and hence I’ve been able to do that for a long period of time.
“You have to understand, in sport sometimes, things do not go the way you want them to go, but at the end of the day I realise, as a player, as a batsman, that I’ve been involved in very important moments for the team over the last calendar year or so, and for me that is a matter of a lot of pride, that I have been part of very important partnerships when the team needed me, and eventually those moments have been crucial for us in many Test matches.
“So sometimes your focal point has to shift; if all the time you’re going to look at yourself and judge yourself on the basis of numbers and milestones, I don’t think you’ll ever be content or happy with what you’re doing. I take a lot of pride and happiness in the process that I’m following, and I’m at peace with how I’m playing and what I’m being able to do for the team when there is a tricky scenario, and as long as I’m doing that, and taking a lot of pride and motivation to be in those moments, I have nothing else to worry about, because the reality of the situation is that you eventually want to make impact performances for the team, and my best effort is always to do that, and I truly believe that I don’t need to prove anything to anyone.
“It’s just that when you’re in the place where I am, you are going to be constantly judged, and that is the job of the outside world. I don’t look at myself like that.
He also talked about Rishabh Pant that the latter knows more about his game than any other player and once he understands what his mistakes are there is always a room for improvement.