I don't play for the three-figure mark: Virat Kohli

The much-awaited India-Australia series is slated to begin from tomorrow as the first One-Day International is scheduled to be played at Chepauk. Indian captain Virat Kohli interacted with the media ahead of the series opener. He was asked various questions regarding team combination, his personal form, the impact created by wrist spinners and more.

For someone who has more centuries than his age, Virat for sure has been extraordinary. Having scored 30 centuries in ODIs, he now shares the second highest centuries record alongside Ricky Ponting with just Sachin Tendulkar ahead of him. However, Kohli mentioned that he emphasises more on the need of winning games for the team than any individual milestone.

“I don’t play for the three-figure mark. Maybe that’s why I end up crossing it more times because I am not thinking about it. I don’t put myself under a lot of pressure in terms of achieving the landmarks. For me, what’s more important is to win the games for my team,” the Indian skipper said.

Win is what matters

“As I said before, even if I am 98 not out, I don’t mind, if I am 99 not out, I don’t mind as long as we win the game. In that process, things happen because you want to stay till the end and if there are enough runs on the board, you will end up achieving those landmarks because you are thinking about the end result and not about you reaching the landmark,” he added.

The 28-year-old further stated that achieving milestones has never been his top priority. It has always been about contributing to the team’s success and he looks forward to continuing accomplishing the same.

“My motivation has never been that, will never be that. Whatever time I play, 8 years or 10 years or 12 years, I will never think of that because it doesn’t come to me naturally. For me, what’s more important is how to make the team win, with the bat, in the field, giving my 120% whenever I step on the field,”

“It feels good afterward because you made the team win but you can’t start off thinking about those things because you will end up losing the ultimate goal, which is winning the game for the team,” Kohli stated.