'If I thought like people on the outside, I would probably be on the outside right now.'
Virat Kohli isn’t unduly perturbed by his relatively low run of scores on the ongoing tour of New Zealand. India's premier batsman feels analysing too much can unnecessarily clutter his mind.
This New Zealand series is one rare overseas tour in recent times when Kohli hasn’t lived up to his high standards. He has scored just one half-century so far in nine innings across three formats.
His sequence of scores read 45, 11, 38, 11 (T20s); 51, 15, 9 (ODIs) and 2 and 19 (1st Test).
So how does he assess his own batting performance?
"I am absolutely fine. I am batting really well. I feel that sometimes scores don't reflect the way you are batting and that's what can happen when you don't execute what you want to well," he told mediapersons after India lost the first Test by 10 wickets in Wellington on Monday.
For one of the world's busiest international cricketers, a lull of 3-4 innings shouldn't be cause for concern.
"Look, when you play so much cricket and you play for so long, obviously, you will have 3-4 innings that don't go your way. If you try and make too much out of it, it'll keep piling on," said the skipper.
He doesn't pay too much attention to how people react to a defeat, and follows the same philosophy when they talk about his batting.
"I think it's about staying in a good space and I know the chat on the outside changes with one innings. But I don't think like that. If I thought like people on the outside, I would probably be on the outside right now."
According to him, making an honest effort every time one goes out in the middle should be the priority.
"I think it's all about doing the basics right and putting the hard work in practice. You can't really walk in thinking that I have to do it every time. You want to do it. But if it doesn't come off, then you don't have to beat yourself up too much," he said.
At the Hagley Oval in Christchurch, Kohli will be happy to even score a 40 if that helps the team win the Test. A century in a lost cause is irrelevant as far as he is concerned.
"I am looking forward to contributing in a win in the next Test. It doesn't matter what I do. It's never been about my performance on tour or about how many runs I score.
"It's all about if the team wins; even a 40 is good. If the team loses, then even a 100 is irrelevant for me, and I'm going to stay in that mindset."
