Dale Steyn lauds Virat Kohli’s fitness after century in Ranchi: ‘Other 37 and 38-year-olds say they hate leaving home, their dog, their kids’

“He’s played over 300 ODIs in 15–16 years, so the experience is inside him. It’s in his body and mind. Even if he arrived here after three days of rain, it wouldn’t have affected his preparation. He’s mentally strong, visualises well, and can see the ball onto the bat. That’s what the best in the world do. They back themselves because they’ve been out there so many times. A key thing he said is that he’s excited about playing,” Steyn added.

The century that Kohli scored on Sunday was his 83rd international ton and his 52nd in ODIs. The 37-year-old has already retired from T20Is and Tests but as the Ranchi match showed, remains on top of his game.

After the match, Kohli said his focus while playing was more about how he felt about the game mentally rather than physically.

“I’ve never been a big believer of a lot of preparation, if that makes sense. All my cricket has been mental. As long as I feel mentally, I can play the game. I work physically very hard every day of my life. It’s got nothing to do with cricket anymore. It’s the way I live. So as long as my fitness levels are up and my mental enjoyment and sharpness is there, when I can visualize the game and I see myself running as hard, reacting fast on the ball, then I know it’s fine. I mean, one of the days when the game opens up and you get a start, you’ll be able to score some runs,” Kohli said while talking to presenter Harsha Bhogle at the post-match presentation ceremony.