How Kohli's obsession with fitness began

Virat Kohli has redefined fitness for cricketers the world over. Maintaining high fitness is a part of the Indian captain's everyday existence.

In the last few years, the fitness of Indian cricketers has improved dramatically, and the credit for that largely goes to the skipper.

When Rahul Tewatia and Varun Chakravarthy recently failed their fitness tests, Kohli declared that there would be no compromise on that aspect of the game-preparedness.

But how did Kohli's obsession with fitness begin?

Virender Sehwag may have the answer to that question.

'I last toured England in 2011 to play two Test matches. I played one match at The Oval and one in Birmingham. All the county teams have a chart in their dressing rooms that demonstrate the standards of fitness. I think the fitness standards of this current Indian team have been picked from there,' Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

Viru disclosed that some of the Indian players tried the routines, but failed. Virat, a few months short of turning 23 that year, did not accept failure.

'This much should be the weight, the mobility, the flexibility, and so on. When we tried doing it, more than half of our team failed,' Sehwag said.

'So I think that is what Virat Kohli has picked. If England had that standard in fitness, we should too. And ever since he has taken over as captain, he has stressed enough on fitness that certain tests should be cleared and only then can we compete with the best.'