People see the success but to gain it is not easy. For the kind of facilities that are there, one still has to bat so long in the nets. For the amount of pain one goes through in the gym or in training sessions, Virat has very good work ethics, one of the best in the Indian team.
People don't see the amount of hard work Virat Kohli puts in the nets and his fitness. It looks easy from outside, but his success is the result of remarkable hard work he has put in since the last so many years. It (success) always comes over a period of time.
People see the success but to gain it is not easy. For the kind of facilities that are there, one still has to bat so long in the nets. For the amount of pain one goes through in the gym or in training sessions, Virat has very good work ethics, one of the best in the Indian team.
The regularity with which Virat is chasing down totals has got to do with this work ethics. He is the fittest in the Indian team and his stamina is fabulous. He knows the idea of chasing, he knows what his shots are and which bowlers to target. He also keeps in mind the required run rate.
The kind of shots he has and the ability to accelerate at will is because of his preparation. You can only prepare for your batting, your strengths, the shots you want to develop. You cannot develop game plan in the nets. It only comes with experience.
When it comes to chasing, Virat is aware of the game situation and when to accelerate. If the demands that he accelerates from the first ball, he will. But, on most occasions, he will take his time, get set and then accelerate according to the situation.
Running between wickets is important. He runs really well. Most of the times, he converts singles into doubles. That releases pressure (off him). In T20, four runs in two balls is still a strike rate of 200 and that puts the opposition under pressure. If you are getting twos, and the odd boundary, the over will fetch you at least 10 runs. In T20, you don't get dot balls. Once you are set, you get big overs like the one Virat took 19 runs off James Faulkner in the 18th over (on Sunday). He knows he is capable of getting that big over. For that, you need a lot of patience, need to assess the situation and know what is the right time to accelerate.
What I liked about Virat's batting against Australia, and in the tournament so far, is that he played cricketing shots and did not try fancy things. There was a price on his wicket. You cannot get him out. If one was trying fancy things like a reverse sweep or a paddle sweep, and doesn't get good results, he will ultimately get out. But Virat played cricketing shots and the chances of him getting out were less. Either you get a dot ball or you get a boundary ball. You don't get out. That's what Virat is.
Spending a lot of time in the middle and playing so many ODIs and T20s has helped him gain so much experience. IPL has played a big role for all the Indian cricketers. Many times, you get similar situations and with experience, you know what to do.
With so much pressure on an Indian cricketer, one has to be mentally tough to handle huge expectations. One of the most important things I like about Virat is he is very calm and never feels pressure even when he is in difficult situations. He handles it very well. He focusses on the process, knows what he has to do rather than worry about what is going to happen. He knows his scoring areas. His plans and target are on top of the opposition.
His cricketing acumen is brilliant. Against Australia, he converted some of the wide yorkers into fours. Not many batsmen in the world can convert wide yorkers into fours. And, his placements were superb. He was driving between sweeper cover and cover. The Aussies kept a fielder slightly straighter and that created a gap between point and deep cover. Virat realised that there was an opportunity to score a boundary. In such situations some other batsmen would try and hit really hard. But Virat was timing the ball beautifully rather than hit it hard.
Also, helping Virat is the fact that he knows he has a partner who runs like the way MS Dhoni does. The two are probably the best runners (between wickets) in all formats. If you have someone like MS, and also you know he is the one who can, if the situation arises, hit the ball out of the park any time, that gives Virat extra confidence.
(Cheteshwar Pujara is a key batsman in the Indian Test team led by Virat Kohli. He spoke with G Krishnan)
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 "Cheteshwar Pujara")
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