Captain Kohli yet to scale peak in fitness, says Shankar Basu

Chennai: Virat Kohli is considered the embodiment of fitness in cricket, but former India strength and conditioning coach Shankar Basu feels the Indian captain hasn’t scaled the peak yet. “I think he can do a little more exploring (in fitness),” said Basu, whose contract ended with BCCI after the 2019 World Cup.

“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 miles to go’,” Basu added.

Basu said Kohli has an insatiable appetite for achieving excellence in whatever he does. “He is constantly looking for that extra edge; something extra to enhance his performance,” he said.

The trust between a player and trainer is important. It took years for Basu to earn Kohli’s trust. “You have to build a relationship with the player first. You can’t jump the gun and force things on him. It’s like raising children. You should be ready to answer their questions. And you have to give them the right answers. Virat would ask a hundred questions before getting convinced, but once he did, he would readily go to the ends of the earth. It’s difficult to get a student like him,” he said.

Basu said M.S. Dhoni has his own methods when it comes to fitness.  “He has an uncanny ability to keep himself fit,” he said.