Virat Kohli felt like a "nervous debutant" with "butterflies in his stomach" as he stepped out for his 100th Test but the public hysteria surrounding his "milestones and materialistic achievements" doesn't bother the champion batter at all.
It has now been more than 27 months that Kohli has been stuck on 27 Test hundreds but the former India skipper, despite acceptance of disappointment for frittering away another good start in the opening Test against Sri Lanka here, isn't bothered about the quantum of runs as long as he is batting well.
"You obviously feel disappointed as a batsman. I need to be mindful and convert the 30s and 40s into big scores," he said during his interaction with the media at the end of day's play after contributing a classy 45 to the team's 357/6.
But does he feel the need to change the process since big scores aren't coming, the response was a sharp one.
"I have been preparing exactly the way I have prepared and as long as I am batting well, not bothered at all. From a worldly point, people look at milestones and they talk about a lot of things and they are just conversations on the outside," he said.
He didn't forget to mention that he had a 90-run stand with Hanuma Vihari and that was important.
"Even today, partnership of 90 runs was important for us as we were 2 down for 80 odd. So, as long as I focus on the right things, I am not too bothered about milestones and these are conversations that happen on the outside and continue to do so.
"We are somehow crazy about milestones and materialistic achievements. I personally don't think like that and I am batting well and that's the most important thing for me," there was pragmatism in his tone.
Prior to the game, Kohli looked a bit scratchy during a practice session where he got out multiple times to pacers and spinners alike. In fact, both Ravindra Jadeja and Saurabh Kumar, the two left arm spinners, beat his outside edge and clipped the stumps.
The dismissal by Lasith Embuldeniya on Friday, when he played on the back-foot not expecting much turn only to see the off-stump disturbed, led to questions if players are finding it difficult in current environment to work on their game.