‘I was getting decent scores, but…’: Virat Kohli opens up to AB de Villiers | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The camaraderie between Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers is known to the cricketing world with both players creating numerous records for the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise. Their 229-run partnership is the highest ever in IPL history for any wicket.
The former South African star invited Kohli for a fun chat on his YouTube channel where the former Indian skipper spoke his heart out and opened about the failure he endured with the bat for a long time.
Kohli, who recently ended his 1205 days Test century drought when he played a marathon knock of 186 against Australia in the fourth Test in Ahmedabad, said that hundred gave him a sense of calmness and excitement.

“So, when I made the hundred and converted it into a big one, that gave me a sense of calmness, relaxation, and excitement again,” Kohli told AB de Villiers on the latter’s YouTube channel. “You eventually want to be in such a space. And that particular hundred gave me a grounded feeling back. Just from a cricketing perspective.
“In life, I was pretty happy and relaxed. But when playing also, you want to be in that space as much as possible,” he added.
Kohli also spoke about the importance of Test cricket and why the longest format is paramount to him.
Kohli said that he was happy with his contributions to the team but was not doing enough to convert his decent score into big runs. He had gone without a fifty-plus score in his last 15 innings in Tests before he scored 186 against Australia.

“I was getting decent scores, but if you ask me if I was happy with what I was doing. I wasn’t. I pride myself in performing for the team to the best of my ability, I certainly wasn’t doing that enough. I wanted to score big runs, that’s something that always propelled me, whether it was at home or away. I was doing that to a certain extent. But I was not having the same kind of impact that I had before,” he added.
“I and AB have been in touch for a while and he knows how much I value Test cricket. Even though, I had performed in T20Is again and scored ODI centuries and all that stuff, I always felt that white-ball cricket, for me, was more of a thing where if you go in with the right frame of mind on a particular day or for a certain period of time, you can get past the hurdles.
“But even though we played the Test on a wicket that is not offering too much to the bowlers, you still have to bat for good 7-8 hours sometimes, because they (Australia) are that patient with their fields and they could go defensive. It was just testing me constantly. That is something that I have always cherished as a cricketer.