Difficult to get a student like Kohli: former India trainer Shanker Basu

Virat Kohli, who has made fitness a key part of the Indian team culture, can touch greater heights in that aspect, according to former India trainer Shanker Basu.

India skipper Virat Kohli along with trainer Shanker Basu

Virat Kohli, who has made fitness a key part of the Indian team culture and has set high standards personally, can touch greater heights in that aspect, according to former Indian team trainer Shanker Basu.

Basu said, “As Kohli knows, the sky is the limit in fitness. I always used to tell him that ‘Usain Bolt and Novak Djokovic should be your idols and you have a few more miles to go’”.

Inquisitive nature

Basu also spoke highly of Kohli’s inquisitive nature. “You have to build a relationship with the player first. You can’t jump the gun and force things on him. Virat would ask a hundred questions before getting convinced, but once he is, he would readily go to the ends of the earth. It’s difficult to get a student like him.”

Sharing an anecdote which drove Kohli’s focus towards fitness, Basu recalled, “The first two-three years, we used to train only in the summer during the IPL. Actually, he got inspired after seeing Dipika Pallikal (squash player) train. He was astonished to learn about the demands of an individual sport. That’s when he asked ‘why can’t I do the same?’”