The legendary South African keeper had played for RCB between 2008-10
South Africa’s legendary wicket-keeper and former Mumbai Indians coach Mark Boucher remembered his experience working with a young Virat Kohli when he was with Royal Challengers Bengaluru saying that he had understood that Kohli was special.
Boucher reminisced how he had to give a 20-year-old Kohli only a couple of pointers in order to succeed on the international stage.
Boucher narrated in detail how Kohli had walked up to him for help and he was happy to work on his technique. In return, Boucher said he had tried to pick Kohli’s brains to understand how batters from the sub-continent are taught to play spin well from a young age.
“I just tried to help him in his development at that particular stage. He had everything in his game. I think the one thing we did talk about was the short ball and how to play the short ball,” Boucher said in an interview with Times Of India.
“I think the short ball is something that a youngster always gets tested with. I told him, ‘Virat, because you’re so good off the front foot when the ball’s straight, they’re going to test you on the back foot when you arrive on the international scene. If you play it well, very quickly they’ll go away from bowling short at you’. I just said to him, ‘if you arrive on South African shores, we would definitely test you on the short ball knowing that you come from the subcontinent.’” Boucher, who played IPL for RCB between 2008-10, added further.
ALSO READ:
Just a week before announcing his retirement from Test cricket, Kohli told in a podcast on RCB’s YouTube channel that Boucher had influenced him as a player when he first started out in the IPL.
While describing working with Kohli with tennis balls in the nets with most of them aimed at his body and head, Boucher told Kohli enjoyed being challenged with tricky stuff.
“We had a laugh, and it was good fun because I think he trusted that it was coming from a good place from my side. I really enjoyed it because here I am working with someone who at that stage I thought could be the next superstar in Indian cricket. He’s lived up to that,” Boucher, who is the most successful wicket-keeper in Test history, said.
While remembering a conversation with Kohli about emulating the great Sachin Tendulkar, Boucher felt that Kohli has created a legacy of his own by winning multiple ICC trophies and becoming India’s most successful Test captain.
“To mention him and Sachin would be doing a disservice to both of them. I think there’s only ever one Sachin Tendulkar, and I think there’s only ever one Virat Kohli,” Boucher said.
Kohli’s retirement has left a huge void within the Indian Test set-up which also saw the retirement of spin great Ravichandran Ashwin followed by skipper Rohit Sharma last week.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.
