Anil Kumble lavishes praise on Virat Kohli’s mental ability to control all distractions

Few cricketers have been as fiercely committed to a regimental work ethic and personal discipline than Kohli and his insistence on discipline and fitness have made sure that Indian team has become one of the strongest and fittest outfits in the world. He is head and shoulder above of all cricketers in the world at the moment, and Anil Kumble, who had a bad fall-out with Kohli due to various selection issues last year, praised the former’s work ethic and mental ability to put aside all the distractions.

“The one thing that you have to tell when you look at his career that in each game, he not only improved his skill level, but he has taken it to the next level. Irrespective of the conditions but also mentally he is under control everything that is happening around. He has the ability to take his team around with his batting. He has matured and you can see it. The way he controls the game, I mean he doesn't play too many loose shots. He doesn't look to hit in the air. I mean when is batting with the lower order. You know he controls the game and you know if he crosses the 20, 30 mark you know that he got to take the hundred,” Kumble told CricketNext.

“That has been the beauty the way Virat has done it in the last couple of years. He has been able to convert the starts and make a big score, and that something I would like to think that a Rahane, someone like an opening batsman who haven't really done well need to learn from. I mean they had a good start. Murali Vijay had a great start, he scored 20, he struggled really hard, he fought hard to get that 20. But he wasn't able to convert it into a big score. 

“But someone like a Virat was able to do so consistently and made sure he that he puts his team in a good position. And that we have seen is not just because of skill level but also the kind of mental ability that he has. by controlling all the distractions he was able to channelise and made sure he is watching the ball to make sure he is doing all the right things on the pitch.”

Ever since Kohli played that spectacular innings of 116 runs in Adelaide in the 2012 Test series and followed that up with an unbeaten 86-ball 133 in the tri-series to help India chase down 321 in 36.4 overs against Sri Lanka, people started comparing him to Sachin Tendulkar. While Kohli himself played down the comparison and stated that he shouldn’t be compared with his idol, Kumble also said the same thing that it is unfair to compare two great batsmen of the generation.

“I think you can't compare two people. It was a different era, I don’t think we need to compare. But he is certainly a great player in terms of numbers, Virat already has already 60 international hundreds, in such a short span of time, he is hungry we know he is extremely fit, and when he gets the opportunity he makes the best of it. And he makes it count. I think that is the ability Virat has had. And I don't think we should start comparing. He is a great player of the modern era. So let us just accept that and help him you know make him go out there and do his job for the team. 

“Because it is just not about Virat, if you have to win a series it is also about the other players who are contributing and making sure that the team gets to a position of strength. We have seen that Virat has been consistently performing but so has Cheteshwar Pujara consistently performing. And I did say before the start of the series, yes with these two performing you can win a match. For you to win the series you want other players to consistently perform as well. And probably this is the time that the others lift their game, and perform for India to win this match and also win the series,” Kumble concluded.