Space you gave made me relaxed: Kohli to Rohit

DUBAI: Virat Kohli is all praise for all-format skipper Rohit Sharma for the kind of “communication” he has had with him, which has helped the former India captain stay relaxed and return to his “original template”.

Kohli finally hit his 71st international hundred in the inconsequential ‘Super 4’ Asia Cup match against Afghanistan here on Friday. The BCCI.TV had the current and former captain engaged in some serious chat and occasional banter after the lop-sided contest.

“We will learn from these Super 4 games (Pakistan and Sri Lanka) as to where we have gone wrong. There was clear communication from the management. The space that you gave me made me feel relaxed. So when I came back [after the break], I was excited about what I could contribute to team,” Kohli told Rohit.

Kohli said that he realised he should stick to his tried and tested “template”, where six hitting is not always a priority. “I banked on good cricketing shots and six hitting is not a big strength of mine. I can [hit sixes] if the situation demands, but I am better at finding the gaps. As long as I can hit many boundaries, it will serve the purpose,” Kohli said.

In fact, he had told head coach Rahul Dravid and batting coach Vikram Rathour about his process. “I told the coaches that I would find the gaps rather than trying to hit big. In T20 cricket, it is not as if we need to hit only sixes to get the strike-rate up. I got that out of my system and I am back with my template,” added the 33-year-old.

“My role in the team is to take responsibility as per the situation and also take the scoring rate higher. If I can take 10-15 balls to settle down, then I can accelerate. I was going away from my template and desperately trying to do things which are not in my game.” But in terms of his technique and mindset, Kohli said that he had not done anything out of the ordinary.