"My heart was beating so fast through the whole innings" - Virat Kohli reveals his first India-Pakistan experience amid IPL 2025

India batter Virat Kohli opened up on his first experience playing against Pakistan early on in his career. The 36-year-old, part of RCB, featured on the team's podcast, which was aired on YouTube.

In a career that has spanned 17 years, Virat Kohli has faced Pakistan on 17 occasions in ODIs since 2009. He has scored 778 runs with a batting average of 59.84. He has also notched up four hundred against them, one of them being his highest score so far in his ODI career (183 at Mirpur, 2012)

Speaking about playing his first India-Pakistan game on the RCB podcast, Kohli opened up and said:

"In Champions Trophy 2009, Yuvi pa got a finger fracture or something, and then they called me in. So they used to tell me to keep your suitcase with you and keep your passport with you at all times. I was always at standby so they called me over. I was in Bengaluru and they asked to fly in immediately. So when I went in, the very next game I played was against Pakistan in three days time. And that was my first India Pakistan game. "

"I think I scored about 16 runs and then I tried to hit Shahid Afridi for a six straight down the ground at Centurion and I got caught at long off. We lost that game, it was an important moment in the game and my heart was beating so fast through the whole innings. I just couldn't process everything that happened in a span of four days. I remember us losing the game, it was a big loss and I was awake till five in the morning, staring at the ceiling like this is it. "

Take a look at the video below (from 12:04):

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"You will perform better than me." - Virat Kohli opens up on his conversations with young players and his mindset regarding fear and failures

When asked about his fear of failure and the approach he takes towards it, Kohli opened up and had an interesting anecdote about it, saying:

"And I have always told youngsters this, it doesn't matter if I have played 130 Tests and 300 ODIs, If you have played two and you're mindset is better than me on that day, you will perform better than me. There is no guarantee of me playing 300 ODIs and coming in and saying it is all going to unfold easily, it doesn't happen like that. Yes you can use your experience to handle pressure situations, but that same perspective of being in the competition, you have to take a risk."

Virat Kohli is enjoying a good campaign, currently leading the Orange Cap race with 505 runs in 11 games at an average of 63.12. He will next be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, when they face Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.