Kohli: 'Boucher had the biggest impact on me as a young kid'

When a young Virat Kohli first came to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in 2008, in a dressing room filled with the Indian greats like Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble, it was South Africa's Mark Boucher who had the biggest impact on him.

Speaking on RCB's podcast Bold and Beyond, Kohli said Boucher "stunned him" with the conversations he had with him. Unprompted, Boucher told Kohli what his weaknesses were and worked with him on them.

"Out of all the players that I played with initially, Mark Boucher had the biggest impact on me as a young kid," Kohli said. "He was the only guy I saw who came with the mindset that 'Okay, I'm going to come in and help some of the young Indian players'.

"He saw me play and saw a bit of potential. He figured out what my weaknesses could be, like if I wanted to go to the next level, this is what I need to do, without me asking him anything. He said, 'Okay, I've seen you play this and we need to work on this, that, and a couple more things.' So he took me to the nets, he said, 'You need to work on the short ball. No one's going to give you a chance in international cricket if you can't pull the ball.'

"He was hitting these tennis balls at me at a pace where I was like, if this is what it's going to take, I don't think I'll be able to make it to the next level. But he really kept at it. I started becoming better. I remember a game we were playing in Chennai or Kolkata, and he told me, 'When I come to commentate in India in four years from now, if I don't see you playing for India, you would do a disservice to yourself.' "He really stunned me with the conversations that he had with me. And that really pushed me in the direction where I said I needed to start looking at how I could keep becoming better."

"I just could not sleep. I was awake till five in the morning, staring at the ceiling. I was like, this is it. I've been called after a year and I've just messed it all up"Kohli, after the Pakistan match at the 2009 Champions Trophy

Later that year, Kohli made his ODI debut in Sri Lanka. He came into the side in place of Sachin Tendulkar, who was out with a niggle. But once Tendulkar returned, there was no place for Kohli.

Kohli knew he was not the "most technically sound" batter but his willingness to improve and to fight it out in the middle helped him raise his game. His next big opportunity came when Yuvraj Singh got injured ahead of the 2009 Champions Trophy, and he was called up just before India's opening game, against Pakistan in Centurion.

"That was my first India-Pakistan game. I scored about 16. I tried to hit Shahid Afridi for a six straight down the ground and got caught at long-on [long-off], and we lost that game. It was an important moment in the game. And my heart was beating so fast through the whole innings. I could not process everything that happened within those four days.

"It was a big loss, and I just could not sleep. I was awake till five in the morning, staring at the ceiling. I was like, 'This is it. I've been called after a year and I've just messed it all up. I don't know how this is going to shape up.' I had a lot of moments like that where I really, really doubted myself and I had to again kind of recalibrate and find a way to slowly build up again."

On 2024 T20 World Cup: 'I was walking in with no confidence'

From looking to hit the ball instinctively to being the best anchor in the world, the journey for Kohli came full circle a couple of years ago, when he decided to shed inhibitions to keep pace with T20 cricket.

"In the last couple of seasons, I have consciously made an effort to evolve my game," he said. "And I've seen the results of it. Again, to the point where I had to let go of people wanting to see me, this is who I am, and just go and hit the ball.

"You start from wanting to hit the ball and then you go through this whole journey of becoming someone. Expectations, this and that, to a point where you feel like this is actually pulling me back. And you have to push through and again get to the point where you say, just hit the ball. That's the only constant that remains for a cricketer.

"I looked to make a few changes, which I'm very happy about, because I had to kind of go out of my comfort zone and try different things. Again, the fear of failure cannot enter that space. So I knew that I was going to get out a few times [cheaply] and that's okay. I'm not going to expect myself to get 70, 80, 90 every game. Even an impactful 35-40 that helps the team is good enough for me."

Kohli went into the 2024 T20 World Cup with this mindset. However, he had just 75 runs in nine innings before the final. In the final against South Africa, with India 34 for 3 in the fifth over, Kohli switched back to his natural game. He scored 76 off 59 balls as India posted, and just about defended, 176.

"I was not able to get runs through the tournament and I am grateful that I was put in that pressure situation again. I was walking in with no confidence, and then when things are supposed to unfold for you, I get three balls, I get three boundaries and I'm like, what is this game? One day you feel like you can't get a run and suddenly you walk into one of the biggest days of your career and things just start happening.

"And then you are put in this situation where the team needs you, and this performance happens through you. And you're like, how? And that's when you kind of understand, okay, this is the amount of hard work, and then you arrive at the ground. And then whatever has to take place will take place. The preparation is in my hands. The results are not in my hands. I just have to stay true to my instinct. If I have to hit the ball, I have to hit the ball. That is my only responsibility. Where that ball goes, how the execution will happen - that all depends on [other factors] because there are other people playing as well. We tend to forget this."