Kohli enjoys leading India from the front

Pune, Oct. 11: India skipper Virat Kohli says the responsibility of leading the team motivates him to push his limits in testing conditions which eventually helped score big Test hundreds.

No Indian batsman has more double hundreds in Test cricket than Kohli, who smashed a handful of records with his career-best unbeaten knock of 254 on the day two of the second Test against South Africa. He surpassed Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag by amassing a record seventh double hundred, the highest in Indian cricket history. The 30-year-old, who now has 26 Test hundreds and 43 in ODIs, also went past Sir Don Bradman’s Test tally of 6,996 runs. “Feels great it’s a nice little thing to get along in your career, to get most number of double hundreds,” Kohli told BCCI.tv.

“I struggled to get big scores initially but then as soon as I became captain then you invariably just think about the team all the time, you can’t just think about your game. In that process you end up batting more than you can imagine that’s been the mindset for a long time now.”

Talking about his unbeaten 254 here, the skipper said thinking about the team helped him play his marathon innings in hot and humid conditions.

“It’s difficult but if you keep thinking (about the) team then you push yourselves in situations you can’t otherwise. That’s the key in hot and humid, testing conditions you think about the team and you end up batting 3-4 hours more.”

“That was the only challenging thing and then (Ravindra) Jadeja came to bat and you have to run fast with Jaddu. It was physically and mentally challenging and but that’s what you prepare for as an international player.” —PTI

Feels great it’s a nice little thing to get along in your career, to get most number of double hundreds —VIRAT KOHLI