'Grateful & Blessed' for 10K feat, Virat Kohli wishes to 'score as much as possible'

In 213 ODIs Kohli has amassed 10,076 runs with 48 half-centuries and 37 centuries at an average of 59.62. However, instead of focusing on these numbers, he wants to pay attention to the process

‘Fastest batsman on this planet to get 10,000 runs in ODI cricket’ – Indian skipper Virat Kohli achieved this terrific feat on Wednesday in Vishakhapatnam. After 10-years of dedication towards the sport, the Indian skipper surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s 17-year-old long-standing record and set a new benchmark in the international cricket.

After this memorable knock, Kohli admitted that he had never thought of getting this far in this career. But at the same time, he feels proud and honoured to represent his country. In a quick talk with BCCI.tv, Kohli expressed himself and spoke about the things which took him at this stage after 10-years of hard work.

“I feel really grateful, I feel really blessed. I never imagined I would get to this stage in my one-day career, but it’s happened and I’m very thankful to God, I’m very grateful right now,” Kohli said.

“To understand that you have come this far in your career, playing for 10 years, is something which is quite special to me because I love the sport so much, and you want to play it more and more, and that to me is the most important thing.

"I’m just happy that I’ve been able to play for this long and hopefully many more years to come.”

At the age of 29, Kohli has owned uncountable batting records in international cricket. In 213 ODIs Kohli has amassed 10,076 runs with 48 half-centuries and 37 centuries at an average of 59.62. However, instead of focusing on these numbers, he wants to pay attention to the process.

“I never thought I could achieve this feat or that I would get to this stage. I always just thought, ‘I want to play for India’, I never thought this day would arrive one day,” he said.

“It tells me that if you’re just focused on the process, just focused on the right things then these things become irrelevant after a while.

"My duty is to score runs and having done that for a long period now everything else collected together for this moment, but the intention should be every game to just looking for what the team needs and score as many runs as possible.”

“I’ve been able to push my physical abilities and my mental abilities by just focusing on what the team needs and in that process more runs have been scored than maybe I would have otherwise,” Kohli said.

“I’ve just focused on the situation, and I’m glad that I’ve been able to help the team by contributing with the bat.

“It’s a great honour for me to represent my country. Even after playing 10 years I don’t feel like I’m entitled to anything, you still have to work hard for every run that you score playing at the international level for your country because there are many people who want this very badly, and when you’re in that position yourself, you should have that same hunger and passion. You should never take things for granted, never take it easy at any stage.”