Virat Kohli‘s passion for fitness is well known, but beyond the personal spectrum, it has also sparked a revolution in Indian cricket with the players embracing a new culture of fitness. While Kohli is the face of that trend-setting move, Shanker Basu, the strength and conditioning coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore, has been a silent catalyst. While speaking on RCB Podcast Season 2, Basu gave some insights into the fitness world of Kohli and how it has impacted other cricketers.
“The onus of this change (passion for fitness) is on Virat Kohli. I have been seeing him since 2009. In 2014, he said he has a stiff back and can you do something about it. It was only for six weeks and we could not do much then. But in 2015, he said you should do a bigger role. So, I told him we will make a template for him and I will have to make drastic changes to the training that you are doing now. He asked a lot of technical questions and after several conversations back and forth, he said: ‘Ok let’s start,’ said Basu.
“Virat has seen me training Deepika Pallikal (Indian squash player and the wife of Dinesh Karthik) and that time she was in the top 10. So, Kohli told me don’t treat me like a cricketer and work with me like an individual athlete. But that zeal and extraordinary passion for excellence are mind-boggling. It helped me put across my syllabus to him,” said Basu.
Read more: https://sports.ndtv.com/ipl-2023/dont-treat-me-like-a-cricketer-how-virat-kohli-startled-royal-challengers-bangalore-fitness-coach-3871902
