He gave that advice without Kohli even asking for it.
Virat Kohli said in a podcast that Mark Boucher had the biggest impact on him during the early stage of his career. The two played together at Royal Challengers Bengaluru for three seasons in the IPL.
Speaking on a podcast with Mayanti Langer on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru YouTube channel, Virat Kohli said that during the early days of his career, Mark Boucher had the biggest influence on him among all the players he played with. Kohli said that Boucher was able to notice what parts of his game needed work to get better and grow as a player. He gave that advice without Kohli even asking for it.
What stayed with Kohli the most was when Boucher told him that if he came to India as a commentator in three or four years and didn’t see Kohli playing for the national team, it would mean Kohli had let himself down. Kohli said that this talk had a big effect on him and pushed him to work harder.
“Actually, out of all the players that I played with initially, Mark 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 come to commentate in India 3 or 4 years from now, if I don’t see you playing for India, you would be doing a disservice to yourself. So he really, like, he stunned me, you know, with the conversations that he had with me,” Virat Kohli said.
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During an Instagram live chat with AB de Villiers in 2020, Virat Kohli also praised Mark Boucher. He shared that Boucher used to take him into the RCB nets with a tennis ball and a racket to help him practice bouncers and short balls. At that time, Boucher told him that if he wanted to play international cricket, he had to learn to play the short ball, or else he should forget about it. Kohli said that Boucher had the vision even back then, which he felt was very special.
“He (Mark Boucher) used to take me into the RCB nets with a tennis ball and a racket and make me practice bouncers and short balls. At that stage, he told me, if you want to play international cricket, you have to play the short ball, otherwise forget about it. So he had the vision then — that was quite special,” Virat said during insta live with Ab de Villiers.
Now, Virat Kohli is one of the best players across all formats and is a true legend of the game.
In the ongoing IPL 2025, which is his 18th season, Virat Kohli has already scored 443 runs in 10 innings and is once again in the race for the Orange Cap. This shows that he still has the hunger to perform at the highest level.
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