India vs West Indies: Virat Kohli Pushes Himself By Focusing On What The Team Needs

Team India skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday became the fastest batsman to cross the 10,000-run mark in one-day international (ODI) cricket. The 29-year-old reached the landmark during the second ODI against the Windies in Visakhapatnam. Kohli, became the fifth Indian and 13th overall, to cross the milestone as he celebrated the occasion with an unbeaten 157-run knock. Post his record-breaking show, Virat Kohli in an interview to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), spoke about what inspires him to score runs.

"I have been able to push my physical and mental abilities by just focusing on what team needs and in that process more runs would have been scored than may be I would have otherwise. I have just focused on the situation and I am glad that I have been able to help the team contributing with the bat. It's about what the team needs, what the situation demands," Kohli said.

"As a player you are focused on the process and pushing hard for the team when you are down and out, pushing those 10-12 extra overs so that the team can benefit from it and the runs become more anyway," Kohli added.

It took Kohli 205 innings to cross the coveted 10,000-run mark in the 50-over format. Kohli became the second youngest (29y 353d) to reach the milestone after Sachin Tendulkar (27y 341d). An elated Kohli also said that he never thought of reaching the landmark and his only focus was to contribute for the team. 

"I never thought of achieving this feat, or get to this stage, I always thought I want to play for India. I never thought this day would arrive. My duty is to score runs and having done that for a long period, everything has collected together for this moment but the intention has been to score as many runs as possible," the 29-year-old added. 

Kohli now holds the record of scoring 1,000 ODI runs in a calendar year in fewest innings (11) bettering his own record of 2012 (15 innings). The swashbuckling batsman also completed 4,000 runs in ODIs at home. He became the fastest to do so as he took just 78 innings as compared to Tendulkar's 92. 

Kohli also took over Tendulkar's aggregate of 1,573 to become India's highest run-getter in ODIs against the Windies.
 

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team West Indies Cricket Team Virat Kohli Sachin Tendulkar ACA-VDCA Stadium, Visakhapatnam India vs West Indies 2018 India vs West Indies, 2nd ODI Cricket