In an interview with Graham Bensinger, Virat Kohli opened up on his idol and Indian great Sachin Tendulkar, with whom he lifted the 2011 World Cup.
Indian captain Virat Kohli has constantly drawn comparisons with Sachin Tendulkar due to his consistent performances that have broken a number of records over the years. However, he has always tried to stay away from any such talk and maintained that Tendulkar was one of his childhood heroes.
Kohli recently revealed that he never shied away from telling people that he wanted to be like Tendulkar in his growing up years.
"What he did from the pure skill point of view, just the way he was able to bat, was so much more different to anyone else and that just fascinated me," he told sports web-show, 'In Depth with Graham Bensinger'.
"I was like man, this is so much more different and it was so captivating you just couldn't take your eyes off when he was batting. I used to go to these shops and get my packet of chips and my nibbles and just sit in front of the TV to watch him bat, and it was just pure joy. I used to tell people, I want to be like Sachin."
Kohli is now considered one of the best batsmen in the world across formats but he has always been known in particular for his tendency to score big in tight chases.
"The one thing I remember was when I used to watch the Indian team play, whenever the Indian team was chasing and they faltered, I promise you I used to go to sleep thinking, if I was in the Indian shirt, I used to dream of it, and I was in that situation, I could have done it.
"And it's happened so many times in my career till now, that I've been involved in a chase and I finished the game off and I don't know whether it was that conviction that formed in my head when I was that young. When I'm in that situation now, everything just takes over so that's the power of the mind," Kohli said.
