Ex-India Coach Reveals Why Virat Kohli Is The Ultimate GOAT: "Non-Negotiable"

Former India fielding coach T Dilip says Virat Kohli's relentless intensity has a contagious effect on the team and pushes at least five other players to "stretch their limits" whenever they share the ground with him. Dilip, whose nearly five-year stint with the Indian team ended after the recent tour of England, also lauded Kohli's ability to maintain the same intensity in training and matches as one of the biggest influences on India's fielding standards. "When it comes to Virat Kohli, intensity is non-negotiable. You have seen him in the powerplay, how he is as a batsman, whether at cover or short mid-wicket, with his reflexes and with his dives, is admirable," Dilip told 'JioStar'. "Even in the last series, he was putting in those dives and was sharp, always at you all the time.

"Even at this juncture of his career, he runs from long-on to long-on at either end during the death overs, and he is the first one to run out of the circle when the field is spread, and that's a fabulous thing to do for the team." Dilip, however, said Kohli's influence extends beyond the moments when the ball comes his way.

"But what impressed me more is not just the actions, what he does when the ball is at him, but also when the ball is not near him, he wants the ball in his hands," he said.

"With Virat Kohli, there is not much difference between him in a practice session and a match, because it's not just Virat; it's the five other players who have stretched their limits when they are fielding with Virat Kohli. That's the influence he brings into the group." Dilip's tenure as India's fielding coach included the team's triumph in the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados, which he described as the best moment of his stint.

"If I go back to my best moment, I think Barbados 2024, not just the trophy, but the dressing room atmosphere afterwards, the silence for a few seconds before it broke. I could sense the amount of hard work the boys had put in over those four years. And I'll always keep that frame in my mind," he said.

Dilip also recalled the emotions surrounding Suryakumar Yadav's spectacular catch to dismiss David Miller in the final over of the 2024 T20 World Cup final.

"For the first few seconds, I was silent and calm physically because my mind was doing all the calculations, whether Surya had taken that ball cleanly, whether his feet were inside the boundary rope, whether he had popped the ball out in time.

"But once it was confirmed that it was a clean catch, there was a surge of emotions. But in the back of my mind, I also knew that the match had yet to be completed." Dilip also spoke about the fielding medal introduced during his tenure, saying it helped create healthy competition among the players.

With India set to tour Sri Lanka for a Test series, Dilip said fine margins in slip positioning could prove crucial, particularly against fast bowlers and spinners.

"The important factor is that the spacing between the fielders has to be very fine because the ball comes faster in the slip region while fielding to fast bowlers. You may not have time to really go wide on your lateral side," he said.

"And for the spinners, I think, with most of the spinners, we saw how Shubman placed them in the Afghanistan series. It's like, how would you place yourself, the gap between your keeper and slip, to take those finer edges which go on to your left side?" he noted.

"And also, based on the turn, how fast or slow it is coming, how much you should stand away from the batter or not, will be key."

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