Kohli said that his competitiveness hasn't come down despite calming down.
Virat Kohli felt that he has calmed down over the years as a player on the field but said that it doesn’t mean his competitive nature has mellowed down.
Kohli, who has always been aggressive with his demeanour as a captain and as a player, said he cannot focus much on the criticism of his behaviour on the field as it can go either way.
Kohli, who was described as the ‘most Australian among Indian players’ by Steve Smith, was asked about his recent confrontation with teenage opener Sam Konstas in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy which prompted him to speak about his aggression.
“It’s naturally kind of getting tapered down again. People are not happy about that either. I don’t know what to do, to be honest. Earlier, my aggression was a problem, now my calmness is a problem. It’s like, I have no idea what needs to be done, that’s why I don’t focus on it much,” Kohli said at the RCB Innovational Lab Indian Sports Summit in Bengaluru.
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Kohli also explained how his approach to batting is different when compared to how charged up he is while fielding and celebrating each wicket. Among a few of his famous on-field confrontations involved James Anderson while playing in England and with current India head coach Gautam Gambhir during an IPL game.
“For me, it always comes from the right place. While batting, of course, it puts me in a different place. Because I don’t have small, regular events to get excited about. I mean, the end goal is finishing the game. And then, yes, I can represent it the way I used to in the past. Again, things are happening naturally with me. It’s getting tapered down naturally,” Kohli said.
Kohli also admitted that he has gone overboard with his words sometimes, but said it was always to win games for his team.
“The kind of person I am, the kind of personality I have, yes, I do have tendencies to kind of go overboard. And I’ve never shied away from that. But the starting point is, okay, sometimes it might not have gone out with the right intent, but more often than not, the starting point has been of care. I want this all to be an event that helps my team win,” he said.
Despite mellowing down, Kohli said his competitiveness has never come down.
“My competitiveness has not gone down. So, I think for a lot of people, it’s very difficult to process how is the competitiveness going to be at the same level if the aggression is not. You can still be aggressive in your mind, but you don’t necessarily need to express it out there every now and then,” Kohli said.
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