Virat Kohli on Aussie obsession and love affair with Adelaide

Familiarity with the Adelaide Oval, the good memories are of help, agreed Kohli.

Just like any megastar, Virat Kohli is well aware about the level of obsession that surrounds him and currently it is the Australian media which is enamoured by every move that Indian captain makes.

The Aussie media’s general query about Indian team had been more or less restricted on how to stop Kohli, a constant question put to anyone and everyone.

So much so that on the eve of the first Test, Indian captain was asked about this “obsession” about him and Kohli’s answer was a giveaway that he couldn’t care less. “This (obsession) is something that I don’t believe in, at all. Whatever batsmen we have, all of them have so much ability that every one of them can single-handedly turn any game. This is something I believe in 120 per cent, and even they have faith in themselves. On the outside what people think, we cannot control. I cannot tell people to not to talk about it or write about it,” Kohli said.

When the topic of obsession turned into a discussion about his love affair with Adelaide, where has three hundreds from two Tests, he spoke about his “connect” with the iconic home ground of Sir Don Bradman.

“I love coming to this ground, the city in general. I really enjoy the city, I don’t know what the connection is, but I just feel really good here. Not to say that the performances are always guaranteed in a certain place but yes, coming to Adelaide I feel different from places that I have gone in the world and that’s been the case,” said world’s no 1 batsman.

He didn’t hide that Adelaide is his favourite ground outside India.

“It happens to every cricketer, they have a favourite ground away from home. For me, Adelaide has always been special, because I scored my first Test ton here. So, from then on the connection started.

“It’s a great place to play cricket in general; the stadium has been redone, the pitch has always been good. So it’s about which team plays better, it’s been that kind of pitch. They are no-givens on the Adelaide pitch. I have enjoyed my cricket here.”

Familiarity with the Adelaide Oval, the good memories are of help, agreed Kohli.

“Familiarity certainly will help the fact that we have played quite a few Test matches here before and scored runs. So I think it’s even more important to know that you have performed in a place and you know how to get runs there.

“It’s all about remembering those good things that we did and applying it here. I know England and South Africa were tougher. Australia can be a great place to bat if the batsmen apply themselves well. But it takes character. It takes grinding out tough situations,” he sounded cautiously optimistic.