Why Virat Kohli credited Mark Boucher for guiding him during his early years
In the first IPL season, a young Virat Kohli, playing for RCB, found a guide in former South Africa wicketkeeper Mark Boucher. Boucher, Kohli said, wanted to 'help young Indian players' and he took Kohli under his wings and even helped him practice during net sessions.
'Actually of all the players I played with initially, Mark Boucher had the biggest impact on me as a young kid. He was the only guy I saw who came with the mindset that I am going to come in and help some of the young Indian players. And he saw me play and saw a bit of potential and he figured out what my weaknesses could be. If I want to go to the next level this is what I have to do, without me asking anything. I was like okay. He took me to the nets and said we are going to work on the short ball, nobody is going to give you a chance in international cricket if you can't pull the ball,' Kohli told ' RCB Bold Diaries' podcast.
Boucher saw Kohli's potential and told him he would be doing a disservice to himself if he failed to make it to the senior Indian team.
'And then 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 will be able to make it to the next level'. But he really kept at it and I started becoming better. And I remember it was a game we were playing in Chennai or Kolkata, where he told me that when I come to commentate in India three or four years from now, if I don't see you playing for India you would do a disservice to yourself. He stunned me with the conversations he had with me and that really pushed me in the direction where I said I need to start looking at how I can get better. He had a massive impact on me in those early years,' Kohli said.
Kohli on captaincy
Kohli, now 36, also said he decided to give up captaincy duties because of the constant pressure of leading India and RCB.
Kohli resigned as T20 captain after the World Cup in 2021. He then stepped down as RCB captain before quitting Test captaincy.
'At one point, it did become tough for me because there was just too much happening in my career. I was captaining India for a period of 7-8 years. I captained RCB for nine years. There were expectations of me from a batting perspective every game that I played. I didn't have this sense that the attention was off me. If it wasn't captaincy, it would be batting. I was exposed to it 24×7. It did get very tough on me, and it did get too much in the end.' Kohli added.
'That's why I stepped down because I felt like if I've decided I want to be in this place, I need to be happy. I need to have a space in my life where I can just come and play my cricket without being judged, without being looked at as what are you going to do this season and what's going to happen now,' said Kohli, who has been with RCB since the inaugural edition of the IPL.
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