Captain Virat Kohli has insisted that the environment in the Indian change room is very friendly where each and every person is allowed to express their opinion in a free manner.
In an interview with the Times of India, Kohli said hetreats all the players with equal respect in the dressing room and resists fromscolding youngsters whenever they commit any mistake during the course of agame.
“The culture of scolding people isn’t there in thechange room now. As friendly as I am with Kuldeep (Yadav), I am the same withM.S. (Dhoni). The atmosphere is such that anyone can say anything toanyone.”
“I am like walking up to people and telling them’listen, I have committed these mistakes, make sure you don’t do them’,”he added.
The 30-year-old further said he believes in giving players aspace to express themselves and tries to intervene only when he feels that theplayers are feeling jumbled.
“I believe in empowering people. I believe in givingthem space to express themselves and when they come to a stage when they feeljumbled then I’ll have a conversation,” he said.
“I’ll talk to them like, ‘this is where you are headingand this is where you have to head. These are the kind of things you should bedoing. You’ll regret not correcting those things early like I did. I don’t wantyou to waste two-three years of your career. You have to play more than whatyou have played’,” he added.
Speaking about the recently concluded World Cup where Indiamade an exit in the last-four stage, the Indian skipper said the team didn’t domuch wrong during the course of the tournament but were still out of it.
The Indian team, which stayed at the top after theround-robin stage, had to face a shocking defeat in the semifinals at the handsof New Zealand, the eventual runners-up of the tournament.
“It’s very difficult to digest because you know youdidn’t make many mistakes to be knocked out. When you make mistakes, you canpoint them out and take ownership of that but when you have been outplayed thenthe acceptance becomes difficult. You wake up and think you didn’t do muchwrong but we are still out.”
Kohli further said that setbacks, which he has faced in hiscricketing career till now, have helped him improve as a person.
“I have learnt most in my life from failures andsetbacks. The worst setbacks have not only motivated me but also improved me asa person, made me understand the importance of those times more than thesuccess,” he said.
“It makes you sit down and think about what you need todo now, build a roadmap for yourself. Secondly, these moments show you thepeople who are going to stand by you in tough times and the people who willjump ship.
“Most importantly, it builds your character becausesuddenly this thing happens. When your belief is right up there and everyone’splaying so well, and suddenly, you know, you’ve been outplayed,” he added.
Talking about the upcoming Test series against West Indies,which will be a part of the ICC Test Championship, Kohli said that it washappening for the right time for the longest format of the game.
“It’s very exciting. I think it’s happening at theright time for Test cricket. Although you are going to play bilateral series,the meaning and importance are way more. You have to plan for every series. Iwas excited about something of this sort and now it’s coming to life,” hesaid.India will play three T20Is, three ODIs and twoTest matches against Windies beginning August 3.