Kohli determined to ‘unlock a new version’ of himself

September 28, 2026
2:51 am

At 37 years old, in a career that has spanned two decades and reached glittering highs, Virat Kohli has been challenged to “unlock a new version” of himself and the results of that have been on show. The India batter ticked off 15,000 ODI runs on Sunday and raised his 55th – and third-fastest – century in the format as he tore into the West Indies bowling attack.

“I got a challenge at this stage of my career to kind of up the ante and, you know, play a gear to higher end,” Kohli told the host broadcaster after scoring an unbeaten 139 off 88. “Yeah, that was exciting for me to work on. Again, it excites you when you have to unlock a new version at this stage of your career, which will eventually help, you know, anything that you play for, be it playing for India or in the IPL. It’s really helped me a lot to play with a free mind and I think that’s what’s working for me.”

Kohli hit a six within his first five balls (a top edge) in Thiruvananthapuram and kept hitting them, finishing with nine in the innings, which became a new personal best. He supplemented that with 10 fours including three back-to-back in the 29th over of the 296-run chase that took him past 15,000 runs. He is the second person to the landmark after Sacin Tendulkar.

“My focus has never really been on these milestones, so to say. It’s just understanding the situation along the course of just doing the job for the team, whatever, you know. Achievements come along, obviously I feel very grateful and very blessed to be in this position for having played for so long. And, yeah, just keeping my head down, working hard and thanking God for everything that I’ve been blessed with.”

I promised myself I’m going to play positively because I can
Virat Kohli

Kohli’s batting in 50-overs cricket used to be about mitigating risk and setting himself up to play as long an innings as possible. That desire still remains – ahead of this series, he told JioHotstar about wanting to hit the winning runs in the 2027 World Cup final – but it is balanced with a new need. Once he believes he is set, he wants to pick up the most runs he can off every ball he faces. He has collected 523 of them this year. That makes him the third-highest scorer of 2026. The kicker, though, is only three of the top 50 can match or beat his strike rate (116.74).

“I promised myself I’m going to play positively because I can,” Kohli said. “So I’m going to continue to play like that, but, you know, not be reckless. There is a fine line, which as a professional, as an experienced player, I should have the ability to execute in this way without, you know, playing reckless shots and get the team through.”

To keep doing this, Kohli has a few boxes he checks, starting with his conditioning. “I think to follow a free mind, you need a fit body. So for me, it works the other way around. I stay physically fit and then I’m able to visualise the game in the way that I want to play, which allows me the best chance to go out there and execute in the way that I did tonight.

“The game’s more or less in the mind. I’ve never been one to practice a lot, even, you know, when I was playing all the formats. So it’s just for me about staying mentally fresh, staying in the present moment and just expressing myself really out there to, you know, play in a certain way. Get used to this template more often.”

Kohli also touched upon what keeps him clear-headed and motivated. “I think the only thing we need to do is just look back one step, you know, where we came from. That’s something that we tend to forget when we are caught up with, you know, the hustle of the world and the positions we get into with so much attention and fame and, you know, so much love from the fans. It can be very easy to forget where you came from. But I think just looking back at the journey from when you started as a child just makes you feel grateful.

“I enjoy each and every minute that I’m out there playing for India because I understand that, as I said, you know, it could have been a possibility that I wouldn’t be standing here. I wouldn’t have played for India at all. That could have been my reality as well. But I’m getting to live all these amazing moments, representing my country, playing in front of such big crowds and doing the job for the team. As a cricket player, this is all that I dreamt of and I’m getting it. So I have nothing but gratitude in my heart. And as I said, I just want to put my head down, keep working hard, put a smile on my face and hopefully make other people smile too.”