Kohli hails throwdown specialist Raghu for improvement in India’s batting

The sidearm is a cricketing equipment that is shaped like a long spoon, with its far end designed to hold and hurl the ball at great speeds. “I believe the improvement this team has shown while playing fast bowling since 2013 has been because of Raghu,” Kohli said during an Instagram Live session with Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal.

“He has good concepts about footwork and bat movement of players. He has improved his skills so much that from sidearm he easily hurls the balls at 155 kmph. After playing Raghu in the nets, when you go into the match, you feel there is a lot of time,” added Kohli.

It is no surprise that Raghavendra has been a crucial member of the Indian cricket team’s support staff for years now. Kohli said he never had self doubts at any time, including while engineering those big chases in high-pressure international matches.

“To be honest, I never doubted myself in game situations. Everyone who is human has doubts and weaknesses. Everyone has negatives. So in practice during tours, if you haven’t had a good session you feel you don’t have that flow. Yes, doubts creep in then and it is at the back of your mind. The key is to keep going and get into that zone till you feel that it was just a distraction. If I believe I am good enough, then I am good enough.”

The prolific scorer added, “The best part about match situation is that you don’t need to think so much. You react to situations knowing your role. Negative voices always come off the field when you are not in competition mode.” 

Kohli said, while watching games in his childhood, he would often go to sleep thinking he could have helped the team to victory. “When I was a kid, I used to watch India games and see it lose. I would go to sleep thinking I could have won that match. If I am chasing 380, I never feel that I can’t achieve it.

“In 2011 in Hobart, we had to chase 340 in 40 overs to qualify. At the break, I told (Suresh) Raina that we will approach this match as two 20-over games. 40 overs is a big duration. Let us first play 20 and see how many runs are scored and then play another T20 game.”

Arguably one of the best batsmen, Kohli said he had to change his approach to batting to suit the requirement, which comprised playing the ball along the ground instead of going over the top. “I changed because I wanted to hit all around the ground. The static position was making my options limited. My basic funda of batting is that if your hips are in perfect position then you can play any shot,” he added.