Aakash Chopra highlights Virat Kohli’s staunch commitment to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as a notable characteristic.
RCB selected Virat Kohli before the first season of the Indian Premier League. He’s been part of the franchise from that time, gathering 7263 runs. That’s the highest in IPL history! His strike rate is 130.02, and he achieved this in 229 innings.
Chopra listed some of the qualities that define Kohli in a video that he posted on his YouTube page, including his ability to win matches, particularly while chasing runs, and the high standards he has established for fitness.
He went on to mention the former captain of the RCB’s devotion to the team as another one of his special qualities, explaining:
“He is royalty for RCB. Loyalty is royalty is what I say. If you are loyal, you are royal, and he is royal because he stuck with one team. It’s not that he never got an offer or was not asked to come into the auction because nothing was happening there (with RCB).”
“He is a mighty player, scores a lot of runs, and breaks batting records year after year but they don’t win. This player doesn’t like losing. However, he kept his loyalty to RCB. He says that until he plays, he will play for them only. You rarely see such a commitment at a franchise level.”
Aakash Chopra
Chopra noted, Kohli and MS Dhoni are the unique pair who remained loyal to their initial teams. Dhoni also briefly played for Rising Pune Supergiant. This was during Chennai Super Kings’ temporary suspension.
Bengaluru has essentially taken over as Delhiites’ first home, he continued.
Aakash Chopra on how Virat Kohli’s aggressive captaincy defines him
Another one of Virat Kohli’s distinguishing qualities, according to Aakash Chopra, is his combative style as a Test captain:
“His aggressive captaincy, especially in Test cricket. He walked the talk. It’s easy to talk about an aggressive brand of cricket but difficult to play that way. For that, you need to play five bowlers, which means there is pressure on the batters.”
Aakash Chopra
The former India skipper is eager to play five bowlers and exert pressure, according to Chopra. He clarified:
“Due to that, India never played more than four bowlers for a long time because the captain is generally a batter. Virat Kohli changed that template.
“He realized that to win abroad, you just don’t need to score runs but take 20 wickets as well. He was ready to put pressure on himself.”
Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra emphasized that Kohli told the opposition that his squad had come to battle when he stared them in the eyes.
He said that although the Indian batsmen failed to produce, they did lose a few games as well, and a tie was never an option.