How Virat Kohli overcome poor start to Test career with ‘power of visualisation’ and ‘belief’

Despite showing promise and having played match-winning knocks in white-ball cricket, Virat was on verge of being shown the door in the longer format had he not performed further.

Bengaluru: Star Indian batter Virat Kohli recalled how back in 2012 ahead of the third Perth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he faced the pressure after a not-so-good start to his Test career and how he overcame it, his fears of losing his Test team spot through his self-belief.

Heading into that Perth Test, Virat did not have a very good Test record. In six Test matches and 11 innings, he had scored 234 runs at an average of just over 21 with two half-centuries. He was not having a good tour of Australia till that point, having scored only 43 in four innings of the first two Tests, which India had lost. This was in sharp contrast with his ODI numbers. By the end of 2011, in 84 matches and 71 innings, he had already scored 2,860 runs at an average of 46.88, with eight centuries and 18 fifties.

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Despite showing promise and having played match-winning knocks in white-ball cricket, Virat was on verge of being shown the door in the longer format had he not performed further.

Virat said as quoted by Royal Challengers Bangalore Website on RCB Podcast on Saturday, “When we arrived in Perth, at the first glimpse of the surface we knew that it was a very tough pitch to bat on as there was ample pace and bounce on offer. Not only were these two solitary nightmares but to add to a batter’s woe, there was ample grass as well. And I knew that if I do not perform in this Test match, then there was no chance that I was playing the fourth. Probably, I will have to go back to first-class cricket and climb my way back to the top again.”

Virat recalled how he was facing the pressure on his first-ever trip down under after his side lost the first two matches and he had underperformed in both. “So I clearly remember, when I left Sydney, there was a lot of vitriol. Especially when you lose the first two Test matches of a series in Australia, the whole environment becomes very tense. Everyone is obviously feeling a lot of pressure and when it is your first tour to Australia and you see everyone feeling a lot of pressure around, you think that I have got no chance here,” said the batter.

But the batter decided to think different, turning to his great ODI numbers for hope and confidence. His white-ball numbers gave him the confidence and self-belief he was looking for. “It is because the whole team is feeling like that and I am the most inexperienced. How am I going to turn this around? I remember that in that adverse situation, I kind of got resilience. I told myself, ‘Hold on. Maybe I can be different if I think differently. So I went into my own space. Spent a lot of time just walking around by myself. I sat in a coffee shop too. I remember, every time I stepped into the bus or was in a practice session, I always had my music on,” said Virat.

“I kept telling myself that I have got 8 ODI hundreds by the time. I told myself that I was good enough to play at this level. I told myself if I can get 8 hundreds in ODI cricket, I can manage this as well.” “I kept telling myself that I am good enough and I can do it. I ended up scoring 48 in the first innings and 75 in the second in that Test match, braving conditions that were extremely tough. I was the highest run-getter in that Test match for us.”

“That made me believe that the power of visualisation and belief in yourself is so huge, we never fully tap into the potential like that. But when you really put out all the distractions in the side, when you believe in yourself, is when you do something that is not perceivable for people on the outside. That was a big lesson for me,” concluded Virat.