For the cricketers of the current generation, cricket and business go hand in hand. Their calendar is so cramped that they literally live life out of a suitcase. They can't say no to cricket, especially Indian cricketers, for some unexplained reasons. So, they use the rest days for business activities.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) played a match on Friday night, flew down to Delhi on Saturday morning for the next game to be played on Sunday. Whatever remained in the day (Saturday) was their time to rest and probably the only time when Virat Kohli could promote his new business interest.
So, here he was urging his fans to join him in the 'fitness revolution' that is taking over India. After Mahendra Singh Dhoni promised to make his fans 'Sports Fit', 26-year-old Virat is offering his followers a 'Chisel(ed)' body through a chain of gyms and fitness centres in which he has invested crores. But Kohli insisted that it is not just a business for him as he sincerely believes in the concept of fitness and his own game improved with his fitness level.
"For me, fitness comes before cricket," Kohli started his speech on the occasion of the launch of his new venture with this statement. "When I first played for India, main kafi mota tha (I was quite fat)! (laughs). It was in 2012 when I decided to improve my fitness level because all the best players in the world are very fit and I wanted to be among them. Now I can really feel the difference it has brought in my game, my skills and my form," he added to convince a small gathering.
One enthusiast asked Kohli who he thinks is the fittest player in the Indian team. A couple of weeks ago he credited himself for winning most number of matches for India in the past few years. So, many people thought that here again he would call himself the fittest player of the team. "Actually, most of the guys in the (Indian) team are at the same fitness level," he said instead of what many were expecting him to say!
With that, the conversation veered from fitness to cricket. And since Dhoni has retired from Test cricket and Kohli is the new skipper in the longer format, biggest concern for everyone in the team management is to find a replacement. Apart from Wriddhiman Saha, who has kept wickets for India whenever Dhoni took break or got injured, there are Dinesh Karthik, Parthiv Patel and Sanju Samson. But Kohli said Saha deserved a "longer rope" making his choice clear. "He is 30 and…needs a longer rope. He deserves to be India 'keeper for next 5-6 years," India's Test captain said.