Virat Kohli
Two stalwarts of their respective national sides, Virat Kohli and Steve Smith, were involved in a fun interaction ahead of the much-awaited Test series, starting with the pink-ball Test at Adelaide from December 17.
The duo discussed several topics including the incident which turned out to be a major turning point in Kohli's career. In 2006, Kohli, 18 then, lost his father due to a heart attack. Kohli was playing a Ranji game against Karnataka and was batting on 40 overnight.
Much to the surprise of everyone, Kohli decided to walk out to bat the next day, hours after the demise of his father. Not only did Kohli score 90 but also saved the Delhi side from a follow-on.
During the interaction with Smith, Kohli recalled the incident and said that he got serious about his cricketing career after his father passed away. The Indian skipper also said that his sole focus was to play for India and termed it 'pure motivation'.
"I always knew that I wanted to play the game at the highest level. The time I really thought that I am definitely going to make this my career is when my father passed away. That's the time I realised I got to get serious about this, actually, my proper commitment and my focus can not shift," Kohli told Smith in the video shared by Cricket Australia.
"I became single-minded from then on, just focussed to play for India and play for a long time. I did not even think that I am going to get dropped from the team and anything like that. It was a pure motivation and the will to move forward," he added.
