'Kohli’s intensity is superhuman': Shane Watson

RCB’s Virat Kohli with then Delhi Daredevils coach Shane Watson during the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League. Pic/AFP

Shane Watson, the former Australia all-rounder, thinks Indian cricket stalwarts Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni stand out as the most mentally strong players he played alongside in his vast playing career.

Kohli recently finished as the leading run-getter in IPL 2024 with 741 runs for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and will be seen next in action for India in the upcoming Men's T20 World Cup, starting from June 1. "The people that I've worked with one-on-one, I won't take names in particular, but just a bit of a knowing that even the high-quality international cricketers that I've worked with, like at the Delhi Capitals, for example, just the things that I've seen are - one, just their ability to be able to step into each game confidently and knowing what the best version of them looks like, so they're stepping into that every single time. Then, the way they debrief a performance, especially when it's not a great performance, and just turn their focus then to what they need to do in the lead up or during the next game to be able to bring a better version or give themselves a better chance of having a good performance. I have played with both of these guys.

"One is Virat Kohli, who is just so mentally tough. He fully understands how to bring the best version of himself, which is getting in the battle, having his back up against a war where it's you or me, and he's fully engaged in every moment of every game. It's that intensity that he brings to, just about every game, is superhuman. There's only really a couple of other people that I've played with or played against who had that consistent intensity every moment of every game So that's something about Virat, that we've seen in this IPL, just how engaged he is. That's why he's been able to sustain such high performances for such a long period of time," said Watson in an exclusive interview with IANS, on the sidelines of his new book, The Winner's Mindset.

"But then, on the other side of the fence is MS Dhoni, who is opposite of that intensity from Virat. He doesn't need to be like nine out of 10 with his intensity level. He needs to be at around six. But he needs to be in that sort of pocket where he's still fully engaged and trusting his intuition because it's as good as there's ever been. Even at the ripe of age of 42, he still knows how to be able to let his mind be free to be able to access his skills that are so deeply ingrained,"
said Watson.

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