He really stunned me with the conversations he had

Virat Kohli made a big revealation as to which Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) veteran left the biggest impact on him during his early days. Kohli is a part of the franchise from 2008 and continues to be an important player in the side till date.

Talking on the ‘RCB Podcast,’ Kohli said that former RCB wicketkeeper-batter Mark Boucher had a big impact on him in his initial years in the IPL. The former South African international played three seasons for the franchise from 2008 to 2010.

Virat Kohli recalled how Boucher found out his weakness and advised him on how to improve without Kohli even asking him for it. He also added how Boucher told him that he wants to see Kohli playing for India soon.

“Out of all players I played with initially, Boucher had the biggest impact on me. He figured out what my weaknesses could be, If I wanted to go to the next level, this is what I need to do, without me asking him anything. He told me that ‘when I came to commentate in India three-four years from now and I do not see you playing for India, you would do a disservice to yourself.’ So he really stunned me with the conversations he had with me,” Kohli said (via NDTV Sports).

RCB have released the trailer of the Podcast on their social media handles as well.

Virat Kohli on how things have not changed for him in IPL post T20I retirement

Virat Kohli retired from T20Is after India won the 2024 T20 World Cup. He played a crucial knock, scoring a match-winning fifty in the final against South Africa.

This year in the IPL, he has been in brilliant form and is the leading run-scorer for RCB with 443 runs and six fifties from 10 innings.

Despite having retired from T20Is, Kohli believes that nothing has changed for him in the IPL. He added that the decision to quit the format was taken keeping in mind the next T20 World Cup for which the upcoming players would need time to prepare.

“I do not think things have changed for me in any way. The decision (to leave T20Is) was taken purely understanding that there is a new set of players who are more than ready and they need time, they need a 2-year cycle to evolve, handle pressure, play in different parts of the world, and play enough games to the point where when the World Cup comes, they feel like they are ready,” he stated.

Virat Kohli played 125 T20Is for India, scoring 4188 runs at an average of 48.69 and a strike-rate of 137.04 with 38 fifties and a century to his name.

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Rishabh is an Indian Sports writer at Sportskeeda who covers Kabaddi, Hockey, Indian football and Olympic sports for the website. He has an overall experience of around 3 years and has worked with My Khel in the past along with interning at The News Minute, Times Network and Deccan Herald.

Rishabh has done MA in Media and Communication Studies. He also worked in Sportskeeda’s Comms team and won the ‘Commentator of the Month’ award twice. He covered the Pro Kabbadi League and two of his articles were also featured on Jaipur Pink Panthers’ official website.

Rishabh started following sports after 2020 Olympics and also after his experience of watching Bengaluru FC at the Kanteerava Stadium in the ISL between 2019 and 2023. His favorite athlete is Neeraj Chopra as he’s brought a revolution in Indian sports. His historic gold medal win at the 2020 Olympics left a lasting impact on Rishabh.

He strives to ensure that his articles are accurate and he verifies information from multiple credible sources. When not working, he likes playing badminton and football.

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Edited by Sudeshna Banerjee