Not Sachin! Virat Kohli Names Player Who Had Biggest Impact On Him As Youngster
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Kohli opens up about the influence of former South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher on him during his early days in cricket.
Virat Kohli is one of the greatest cricketers of all time. The 36-year-old right-handed batter from Delhi has played more than 100 matches for India in all three formats of the game and has scored more than 27000 runs in international cricket. Kohli made his international debut for India in August 2008 against Sri Lanka during an ODI match played in Dambulla, and before that, he led the India U-19 team to the World Cup title in Malaysia. He has been associated with Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL since the 2008 edition and is the all-time leading run-getter in the world's richest franchise cricket league.
In the IPL for RCB, Kohli has shared dressing room with many greats of the game in the last 18 years, right from Rahul Dravid to Anil Kumble, Kevin Pietersen, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Dale Steyn, among many others. But while speaking in a recent RCB podcast, he opened up about the influence of former South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher on him and said he had the biggest impact on him as a young player.
Boucher played in the IPL for RCB from 2008 to 2010 and shared dressing room with Kohli for three seasons. According to Kohli, the 48-year-old former South African international came with the mindset of helping young Indian players. He identified his weakness against the short ball.
'Mark Boucher had the biggest impact on me as a young player. He was the only one who came in with the mindset to genuinely help young Indian players. He identified my weaknesses without me even asking and said, 'You need to work on the short ball; no one will give you a chance in international cricket if you can't pull.' He kept working with me relentlessly, & I started improving. I still remember him telling me, 'If I come to commentate in India four years from now and don't see you playing for India, you'd be doing a disservice to yourself.' That really pushed me to keep getting better," Kohli said.
Boucher played a total of 27 IPL matches for RCB in three seasons and with the help of one half-century scored 388 runs.
First Published:
May 06, 2025, 16:19 IST
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