Coach Rajkumar Sharma recalls Virat Kohli's work ethic

NEW DELHI: As Virat Kohli brought up his 49^thODI century on Sunday evening, nostalgia engulfed his childhood coach

Rajkumar Sharma

. For an hour after Kohli achieved this feat against South Africa in Kolkata to equal Sachin Tendulkar’s record, Rajkumar and his family were struggling to decide how they should celebrate this day.
“The meeting with a nine-year-old Virat flashed in front of my eyes.

The journey has been so amazing. For my ward to be at par with a legend like Sachin Tendulkar is a blessing for me,” Rajkumar told

TOI

on Sunday evening. “In a few days, I could make out that this boy had a gift from god. But the entire credit must go to him for realizing that he needed to work harder than most to honour that gift. It was so fulfilling to see his

work ethic

evolve through this journey,” a proud coach couldn’t stop gushing.

It was always apparent to him that Virat was an international cricket potential. But Rajkumar picked out the tour of

Australia

in 2011-12 and the subsequent Asia Cup in Bangladesh as the point where he realized his ward was meant to be in a different league. “Virat had already won a World Cup and scored 6-7 centuries. The hundred in the

Adelaide Test

after a rough start to the tour followed by the magical ton in an improbable chase against Sri Lanka in Hobart and then the 183 against Pakistan—that’s when I realized this boy will finish as one of the greatest Indian cricketers,” Rajkumar mentioned.

For all the success that he has had, Virat has never stopped coming back to his coach for honest dissection of his cricket. “He has mellowed down a lot with his age. We discuss his cricket but we also talk about life values now. But his aggression on the field is intact. I never tried to curb that. I knew he derived strength from it. All I had to take care of was that he didn’t become overconfident,” he claimed.

2014 slump and the wait for 71^st ton

For Rajkumar, Virat’s toughest challenge was recovering from the horrendous tour of England in 2014. The lull before his 71

^st international century is incomparable to what he went through in 2014. “2014 was a real challenge. He was young and James Anderson had exposed him. The months that he spent after that tour were very tough. That period involved a lot of learning—technical, mental and general awareness of his game. He wanted to turn it around quickly,” Rajkumar recalled.
“In comparison, the phase from 2020 to 2022 was nothing. It was all about not being able to convert his starts. He was batting well all through but he had set such high standards with his conversion rate that it seemed like he was going through serious loss of form. It was a bit irritating for him as well since he set such high standards for himself. Over the last one year, he is back to what he was doing till 2020.”

The World Cup hunger

Rajkumar maintains that Virat understood very little about the significance of the World Cup win in 2011. “He was barely 22 at that time. He is mature person. He understands that he is a statesman in this team and that he has this responsibility and guide the youngsters to help this team win the World Cup. Even before this World Cup started, he kept talking about how important it is for him to win this trophy. Probably, we will get to celebrate his records when the World Cup is done,” the coach stated.

Watch Virat Kohli equals Sachin's ODI century record with 49th ton on birthday