Not scoring big was eating me up, expressed Virat Kohli

India’s star batsman Virat Kohli has revealed that he was unable to make any significant contribution to the team for a long long time which was eventually “eating him up” and he unintentionally let the desperation overwhelm him as he was craving for a big century.

Kohli apparently played a stupendous knock of 186 runs against Australia in the fourth Test, ending a three-year century drought in Tests. The match later ended in a tie, but it was Kohli's 28th century that was the main taking point for the cricket fanatics and a sigh of relief for the management as the Test World Championship final is knocking at the door. 

In an exchange with the Indian team’s head coach Rahul Dravid, the 34-year-old centurion explained that the burden of his expectations became a bit hard to handle for him. 

"Honestly, I've let the complications grow on me a bit because of my shortcomings," Kohli told Dravid in the conversation.

"The desperation to get to the three-figure mark is something that can grow on you as a batsman. I let that happen to me to a certain extent. But a flip side to it is, I'm not a guy who is happy with 40-45. I take a lot of pride in performing for the team."

"It's not like when Virat Kohli should stand out. When I'm batting on 40, I know I can get a 150. That was eating me up a lot."

"Why am I not able to get that big score for the team? Because I took pride in the fact that when the team needed me, I stood up, scoring in difficult conditions. The fact that I wasn't able to do that, was bothering me," he also quoted.

When asked by the coach about how tough it was, Kohli replied, "If I've to be brutally honest, it does become a little difficult as the moment you step out of the hotel room, right from the guy outside, to the guy in the lift, the bus driver everyone is saying 'we want a hundred'."

"So, it does play on your mind all the time but that's also the beauty of playing for so long to have these complications come up and overcome these challenges," the Indian run machine said.

Kohli’s inning was incredibly important for the team in that situation when India was trailing by a huge margin. He stayed on the pitch for more than 8 hours and 30 minutes and played 364 ball inning. It was his 75th century across all formats which led India to yet another Border Gavaskar Trophy win and also engraved their name to the second consecutive Test World Championship final. 

Dravid said he was also frantic to see India’s prime man score that great hundred and it was worth it at the end because his masterclass was delivered at a very crucial time.

"I've seen him as a player, seen a lot of hundreds of him on TV and after I took over the coach about 15-16 months ago, was a bit desperate to see him score a Test hundred and really enjoy it from the comfort of the dressing room"

"To be able to enjoy and relax a Test hundred. It was a beauty. You made me wait a long time but it was an absolute privilege to watch an inning and the way you constructed it," Dravid said.

Previously, Kohli's last Test hundred came in India's maiden Day/Night Test against Bangladesh in November 2019.

"A lot of people ask me, 'how do you keep scoring those hundreds'. And I always say a hundred is something that happens along the way within my goal, which is to bat as long as possible for my team."

Kolhi appreciated his fitness for being able to bat in different skilled ways which helped him to excel in this intense format of cricket. 

"I can bat four sessions, I can bat five sessions, that's where the fitness and physical preparation comes into play for me."

"I go into the field relaxed because I know I can bat in many ways. I am not desperate if I play three sessions and feel like I am breaking down and I need to get fast runs otherwise I won't be able to stay out there for long," he told.

".....I am pretty happy scoring 30 runs in a session and not hitting a boundary and absolutely not being desperate because I know that boundaries will come and even if I have to play like this I can bat six sessions and get a 150. I have no issue doing that.”