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Despite heavy workload, skipper Virat Kohli to play all three formats for next 2-3 years

Kohli stated that the intensive workload does take a toll on his body but insisted that he is determined to play all three formats for at least the next three years.

Despite heavy workload, skipper Virat Kohli to play all three formats for next 2-3 years

Virat Kohli after winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2018-19. (Photo: IANS)

There is no doubt that Virat Kohli always wants to lead his team by example. He has done that over the last few years not only by his consistent performances on the pitch but even by the high fitness standards that he has achieved by working off the field on things like proper training and diet.

The Delhi born 31-year-old has played as many as 84 Test matches, 248 ODIs and 82 T20Is ever since he started playing for India in 2008. Being the part of a team like India, which is more often than not in the middle of cricketing action, Kohli stated that the intensive workload does take a toll on his body but insisted that he is determined to play all three formats for at least the next three years.

“My mindset is on the bigger picture as I prepare myself for a rigorous three years from now,” Kohli said ahead of the New Zealand Test series starting on Friday as quoted by IANS.

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“After that we might have a different conversation,” he added.

“It’s not a conversation you can hide away from in any manner. It is around eight years now that I have been playing 300 days a year, which includes travelling and practice sessions. And intensity is right up there all the time. It does take a toll on you,” he further said.

“It’s not that the players are not thinking about it all the time. We do choose to take lot more breaks individually even though the schedule might not allow you to. Especially for guys, who play all the formats,” he went on to add.

“It’s not easy being captain, having that intensity in the practice sessions. It does take a toll on you. Periodic breaks seem to work pretty okay for me,” Kohli continued.

“At a time where the body can’t take anymore, maybe when I am 34 or 35, we will have a different conversation. For the next two to three years I have no issues at all,” he said.

“I can keep going on with the same intensity and also understand that the team wants a lot of my contribution in the next two to three years, so that I can ease into another transition that we faced five-six years ago,” he concluded.

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