"He pushes himself to the maximum" - former RCB coach Simon Katich on Virat Kohli

Simon Katich, the former head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) lavished praise on Virat Kohli's leadership skills and training regime. Katich dwelled on a bird's eye view of the same that he received during his stint as coach of RCB during IPL 2020 and 2021.

Katich spoke to former Australian teammate Brad Hogg on the latter's YouTube channel. He was full of praise for the way Kohli, the captain, worked with his players. Katich specified how Kohli was very giving of his time to the players as well as the support staff.

He said:

"It's a big role captaining an IPL franchise or an international teams since it's constant meetings, there's constant decisions that have to be made ... It was time consuming and that's something he was very good with in terms of giving us his time."

He further added:

"We were really mindful of that and respectful of trying to take the load off him in that respect so as a coaching group we tried to do a lot of the ground work with that and then go to him with a simplified version of how we wanted to go about things, whether it was the game style or whether it was the tactics or selections. So you try to help him out as much as possible given the workload he's on but...he was very giving of his time."

Katich further delved into how Kohli did an amazing job in terms of mentoring young batter Devdutt Padikkal. Padikkal, too, was thrilled to be paired up with Virat Kohli, according to Katich.

Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli

Katich continued:

"We also asked him to mentor one of our younger players and I think he did a magnificent job in what he did with young Padikkal. He's come on in leaps and bounds over the last two years... Just being able to pass on that experience of what he's learnt over the last decade of IPL...onto a young player that's finding his feet at that level but also potentially going to be an international player down the track."

He added:

"I know the youngster was thrilled to be able to be paired up with him...We witnessed it and I've got a huge amount of respect for the way he (Kohli) went about things and gave his time to our group."

Katich also talked up Virat Kohli's training standards in times when cricketers are confined to bio-bubbles. Katich declared that the former RCB captain has taken fitness standards to a whole new level and that he pushes himself to the maximum.

"He pushes himself to the maximum. It's unbelievable. We played in an era where some of the boys were renown for being religious trainers...Virat's taken it to a whole new level - particularly the work he's done in the gym... It doesn't look like he cuts any corners whatsoever. There's no stone unturned with his physical preparation."

He further talked about the Virat Kohli's mental fitness and said:

"But I think he also spends time on the mental side of things. He had his wife Anushka there and they obviously spend a lot of time together. That was fantastic to see that him in particular spent time with her given how busy he is throughout the year with the Indian job."

Katich further stated that the coaching staff at RCB tried to encourage Virat Kohli to have days off and keep himself fresh. Katich also added that he was unbelievably impressed with the manner in which Kohli lives up to his commitments on and off the field.

"We tried to encourage him to have days off because he has got so much on his plate playing all formats of the game. In the IPL, he's a very experienced player. He knows how to make those runs."

He further revealed:

"If anything, we were trying to encourage him to freshen up when he needed to come into games 100 per cent... He has a huge amount on his plate and not just on the field with RCB - they ask a lot of him off the field with commercial engagements...He does it all as part of his job...I was unbelievably impressed with how he went about it."

"We were fortunate having a leader like Virat Kohli" - Simon Katich

Simon Katich also expressed how fortunate the support staff at RCB were in having a leader like Virat Kohli. Katich acknowledged Kohli's understanding of the bio bubble and how he supported the coaching staff in their decision-making around it.

"We were fortunate having a leader like Virat Kohli whose training standards are second to none in terms of his level of professionalism. But also his understanding - he was extremely understanding given his role as Indian captain and then knowing how difficult it is being on the road for nearly 12 months of the year. So he really supported that and we were lucky as a support staff to have a leader like that that basically backed our decision making in around bio bubbles and how we wanted to treat the players", said Katich.

Katich stepped down from his post as Head Coach of RCB ahead of the second leg of IPL 2021 due to personal reasons. He will now assume the role of Assistant Coach at Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2022.

RCB retained Virat Kohli ahead of the IPL 2022 Auction. Kohli stepped down from his post as captain of the franchise, though, after the end of last season and will only continue as a specialist batter.

More recently, Kohli announced his decision to step down as captain of India's Test team with immediate effect.