Virat Kohli describes his cricket journey so far as "surreal"

Kohli described his cricket journey so far as “surreal”

Virat Kohli described his journey in international cricket so far as “surreal”, IBN Live reports. India’s Test skipper also opened up on his approach for the series against South Africa but refused to pinpoint any particular player as the biggest threat.

Kohli was earmarked for bigger things right from a young age and his stellar performances in leading the Indian Under-19 side to World Cup success in 2008 opened the doors to the senior team. The transformation from the junior level to the national team has been nothing short of remarkable and despite a dip in form compared to the heights he achieved early on his career, Kohli is one of the most promising young batsmen in the game at present.

Kohli, who made his ODI debut in 2008 had to wait three more years for his first appearance in the Test team. The rise in the longer format has been even more remarkable as he now leads the side following the retirement of MS Dhoni last year.

The middle order batsman is understandably thrilled at his rise in international career and termed his thoughts on looking back at his career as “surreal”.

"If you honestly ask me, I have never thought of these. Sometimes I sit in my room all by myself and just think everything that happened in the past seven years it feels surreal," Kohli said. The people that I have been able to play with, the moments I have been able to share with the team and now getting the Test captaincy, something that I never imagined.”

Kohli said that a lot of hard work had gone in behind the scenes for his success and expressed his gratitude to god for helping him along the way.

"This is a lesson for me. If you work hard, if you are grateful for what you have in life, God will bless you with more," he added.

Kohli treating South Africa series like any other

Kohli recently led India to a 2-1 Test series victory over Sri Lanka, its first overseas victory in four years. India face a much tougher challenge at home this around as South Africa come visiting for a four-Test series. The Proteas has not lost an away series since 2006, but Kohli is not making any special preparations for South Africa.

"Not at all. It's not different from anything that I did in the past. We will prepare the same way and approach the series in the same kind of mindset," he said.

Several former cricketers have been having their say on the upcoming series with the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Lance Klusener, Barry Richards and Jacques Kallis picking out the players to watch out for from both sides. Kohli, however, refused to single out any South African player as the biggest threat instead opting to acknowledge the collective strength of the opposition.

"Everyone is a strong player and you can't really point anyone out. The whole team has to be respected in the same way," Kohli said.