While cricket was more about skill than fitness, Virat Kohli changed the perception with a solid regime of his own and being influenced by him, the entire Indian team transformed themselves. The man behind the change was Shanker Basu, widely endorsed by many cricketers and whom Virat Kohli calls the major influencer behind his transformation from a chubby boy to a super-fit athlete. However, Basu revealed that it was, in fact, India's squash champion Dipika Pallikal who was the reason behind Kohli's affinity towards a healthy lifestyle.

Kohli's transformation as an athlete also saw him grow as a person and a widely-admired leader of the men in the Indian set-up. That he has calmed himself and moved away from the time of taking instinctive decisions showed a facet of the character that was not always associated with Kohli. Basu revealed that Kohli's inquisitive nature helps him understand a thing clearly and then it is hard to stop him from achieving that.