The intensity with which Virat Kohli carries out his business on the field underlines his attitude towards cricket and how seriously he takes his game.

Results may not always go in his favour, but one can easily understand how devoted the India captain is to hard work.

In fact, everything that Kohli does in life is with seriousness and commitment. Replying to questions from students and aspiring cricketers on Star Sports’ programme Cricket Connected, Kohli recalled how he never compromised on his homework even though he had started giving a lot of time to cricket then.

He even spoke of the “stress” that pending homework could bring about.

“I used to play cricket 90 per cent of the time during my summer vacation, while I used to give 10 per cent to other sports like badminton, football and basketball.

“Apart from watching cartoons, I used to complete my holiday homework every day. To do homework daily was quite necessary, because on a couple of occasions I had noticed that my homework was pending during the entire vacation and so I had to do it at the end (of the vacation). This creates a lot of stress,” Kohli said during the programme, also urging kids to give equal emphasis to both sports and studies.

Talking about his routine while in school, the skipper said he would head home and concentrate on his homework once he finished his training at the academy. That was his “routine” and he made sure never to compromise on the matter.

“When I was 12, I used to play from January to December. After my school, I used to go straight to my academy. Thereafter, I would head home and complete my homework. That was my routine,” he said.

“We didn’t have matches during exams, but whenever I got a chance, I used to make sure I head towards practice.”

Revisiting those days when he used to eagerly wait for the summer vacations, Kohli said that the first day of the vacation was always special to him.

“After the last day of school — when you know the vacation has begun — I used to come home, throw the bag around, have a good bath and lie on the cold floor.

“It’s just like the load of going to school for so many days is being released. I will never forget the feeling of that first day of vacation. That was always special.”

Rohit’s focus

Kohli’s deputy in limited-overs format, Rohit Sharma, said his focus is on short-term goals that relate mainly to the assignments over the next two to three months.

“Over the years, I’ve realised that long-term goals won’t help you in any way, while on the contrary it will add to your pressure and stress.

“I have always focused on short-term goals which are mainly about the next few games in the upcoming two-three months and what I can do best then,” Rohit said in the same programme.

“Setting goals for each series or tournament helps me a lot and I will continue to follow this method in future.”

Fixtures have been thrown into disarray owing to the Covid-19 pandemic with uncertainty still hovering over the resumption of cricket.

“In the coming years, I hope we get the opportunity to play cricket, as we don’t know when we will play again,” Rohit said. “When we resume playing, we will have to see what’s coming our way — whether it’s T20 World Cup or the IPL.

“We even have a big bilateral series against Australia planned. We will have to analyse and see who we are playing against,” he added.