‘Play for the team, not own glory’ : The Tribune India

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‘Play for the team, not own glory’

NEW DELHI:After making an unprecedented sweep of the ICC Awards this year, Virat Kohli talked spoke with ICC about trusting his batting technique and playing with the intent of helping the team at any cost, rather than playing for awards and personal glory.

‘Play for the team, not own glory’

The International Cricket Council played along on the theme of Rishabh Pant the babysitter with this illustration of him with Tim and Bonnie Paine and their children, after Pant was named as ICC’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year for 2018. Courtesy: ICC



New Delhi, January 22

After making an unprecedented sweep of the ICC Awards this year, Virat Kohli talked spoke with ICC about trusting his batting technique and playing with the intent of helping the team at any cost, rather than playing for awards and personal glory. Excerpts:

How does it feel to sweep all the ICC awards this year?

It feels amazing. It’s a reward for all the hard work that you do throughout the calendar year. I feel very grateful that I’ve won it second year in a row. As I said, I feel really grateful and very, very happy with the team doing well at the same time myself performing.

What do these awards mean to you?

If you ask me honestly, these are not something that a cricketer aims for. But having recognition at the global level from the ICC is something you feel proud of as a cricketer because you understand that there are many players playing the game, and to be rewarded in this manner amongst all of them is obviously very proud moment for me and that gives you more motivation to you keep repeating the same things because you have to keep the standard of cricket up and keep bringing in consistent performances. From that point of view, these awards give you that extra motivation.

2018 has been a great year for you, with runs across every format.

Personally, it’s been an amazing year. I was able to play in a manner that I wouldn’t have imagined. If the intention is right and you keep working hard, then results are there in front of your own eyes. So the intent has always to be helping the team at any cost and that’s when these performances come by, you’re pushing yourself to the limit which you otherwise wouldn’t be able to. That’s something that I experienced in 2018, and that just gives me more motivation to repeat the same.

What was your personal favourite moment in 2018?

I would say my personal favourite moment of 2018 would probably be the win at Adelaide against Australia. That was quite special, to start the series in that manner was something very, very special. And then the MCG Test as well. Boxing Day Test was huge, so I think these two moments would be my personal best from the team point of view. Yeah, those are the only memories that actually matter, when the team does well and you’re part of the whole environment. These two moments stand out for me.

Tests and ODIs are very different formats, so how were you able to maintain your standards in both? 

The intention has always to be to play for the team, to help the team at any cost. If you’re playing for individual performances or personal goals, that can only happen for two-three games, then the game understands it, the game levels everyone out and everything out. But if you’re honest to the game, if you’re giving everything on the field, then the game rewards you in ways that even you can’t imagine. The intent has to be correct. God has been great that my intent has always been right, to work for the team at any cost. The foundation of having good cricketing understanding and technique is very important, and that’s something that I keep a check on. Constantly being aware of not bringing in any fancy shots in my game. I like to keep things simple because I trust that I can score in any format with a good technique. From that point of view, I think I’m very grateful that I’m in that zone that I’m able to play good cricketing shots and get the runs. I don’t necessarily need to change my game. But yeah, if the intent is right, the game rewards you back. If you play for awards and personal glory, then you’re going nowhere... You can’t help the team, and your own performances fizzle out as well. I’m grateful that the balance has been maintained for these so many years, and hopefully I can do that in the future as well.

India started this year with Test and ODI series wins. Any goals you’ve set for 2019?

Well, there’s only one goal for every team in 2019, and that’s the World Cup. Every team is looking forward to that, we as the Indian cricket team are also really excited about it as well. We’re playing some really good cricket... We started well in Australia, now we’re in New Zealand for another series, so we have a few games to still sharpen a few things that we need to, and work on our areas of improvement, keep working on the positives as well. So I’m really looking forward to the next season. It’s going to be very challenging, very exciting. There’s nothing like the World Cup, being involved in that whole atmosphere, with so many fans coming in from all over the world. It’s going to be a great time for the cricketers and the fans as well. We all can’t wait for that particular event. — TNS

Kohli’s phenomenal international run in the last five years

He’s scored most runs in last three calendar years, aggregated 11741 international runs in last five years

2735
International Runs in 2018 (No. 1 in the world across Tests, ODIs, and T20Is)
100s: 11, 50s: 9, Avg: 68.37
No. 2: 1938, Joe Root
No. 3: 1887, Shikhar Dhawan

2818
International Runs in 2017 
(No. 1 in the world)
100s: 11, 50s: 10, Avg: 68.73
No. 2: 2092, Joe Root
No. 3: 2078, Hashim Amla
No. 4: 1832, N Dickwella

2595
International Runs in 2016 
(No. 1 in the world)
100s: 7, 50s: 13, Avg: 86.50
No. 2: 2570, Joe Root
No. 3: 2406, Steve Smith
No. 4: 2374, David Warner

1307
International Runs in 2015 (No. 16 in the world)
100s: 4, 50s: 3, Avg: 38.44
No. 1: 2692, K Williamson
No. 2: 2369, Steve Smith
No. 3: 2228, Joe Root

2286
International Runs in 2014 (No. 3 in the world)
100s: 8, 50s: 12, Avg: 55.75
No. 1: 2813, K Sangakkara
No. 2: 2530, A Mathews
No. 4: 2007, M Jayawardene

ICC Teams 
Test team of the year: Tom Latham, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli (captain), Henry Nicholls, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Jason Holder, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Lyon, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Abbas.

ODI team of the year: Rohit Sharma, Jonny Bairstow, Virat Kohli (captain), Joe Root, Ross Taylor, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Ben Stokes, Mustafizur Rahman, Rashid Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.

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