Virat Kohli Names the Player Who Transformed His Approach – Watch now!
Virat Kohli speaks in an interview. (Photo Credit: RCB)Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) star batter Virat Kohli has opened up about the influence former South African wicketkeeper-batter Mark Boucher had on him during his early years with the team.
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Kohli shared on the latest episode of the RCB Podcast, available on the team’s YouTube channel, that Boucher played a key role in helping him improve against short-pitched deliveries.
Kohli recalled that Boucher arrived with a clear goal of supporting Indian players and immediately recognized potential in him.
According to Kohli, Boucher once told him he’d be letting himself down if he didn’t go on to represent India across all formats.
Virat Kohli said "Mark Boucher had the biggest impact on me as a young player. He was the only one who came in with the mindset to genuinely help young Indian players. He identified my weaknesses without me even asking and said, ‘You need to work on the short ball, no one will… pic.twitter.com/vCm4mdFEc6
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) May 6, 2025
“So 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. And he said, okay, I have seen you play this, that, and the other. We need to work on this, that and a couple more things. I was like, okay. So he took me to the nets,” he said.
MOTIVATION TO GET BETTER
“He said, you need to work on the short ball. No one is going to give you a chance in international cricket if you cannot pull the ball. And I remember it was in a game we were playing in Chennai or Kolkata, one of the venues, where he told me that when I come to commentate in India four years from now, if I do not see you playing for India, you would do a disservice to yourself,” he added.
Virat reveals in the interview that his conversations with Boucher left him stunned and pushed him to keep getting better.
“He had a massive impact on me in those early years. I was very realistic about my abilities. Because I had seen a lot of other people play. And I did not feel like my game was anywhere close to theirs. The only thing that I had was the determination and the willingness that if I wanted to make my team win, I was willing to do anything,” he said.
Boucher played for RCB from 2008-10, when Virat was slowly finding his feet in international cricket and had not played Test cricket for India. In 27 matches, Boucher made 388 runs at an average of 29.85, with a half-century.
Watch Kohli’s full interview below!
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