Tennis players’ tenacity leaves Kohli amazed

london: Drawing parallels between on-field pressure situations in two vastly different games, former India captain Virat Kohli says what tennis players endure week after week can only be compared to the less frequent “intimidation and pressure” that an Indian cricketer faces in World Cup knockouts and clashes against arch foes Pakistan.

Kohli, who has retired from T20 Internationals and Tests, made the comparison after witnessing Wimbledon action with actor wife Anushka Sharma here on Monday. He was in conversation with tennis legend Vijay Amritraj during the day’s proceedings.

“I think the experience (in pressure situations) can be similar. But the intimidation factor and the pressure that would replicate for us in a World Cup game, a World Cup match between India and Pakistan or a semifinal or a final of the World Cup, your legs are shivering because of sheer pressure,” Kohli said.

“But these players might be facing that from the quarterfinal onwards to the final, which I think is a lot of pressure to handle. I have a lot of respect for tennis players for playing with that composure and maintaining that level of fitness and mental toughness,” added the superstar, who spends considerable time in London during his breaks from the game.

One of the all time greats in cricket, retired recently from the red-ball format with 9230 runs from 123 matches that contained 30 hundreds. Kohli said cricketers go through their own challenges on field because of the ever-evolving nature of the sport.

“Different sports have different challenges. In cricket, one of the challenges is that you have to wait for a long period, you warm-up in the morning and then you come back and wait in the dressing room, as you don’t know when you are going to bat,” he said.