'Learned A Lot From Virat' - Ajinkya Rahane Reflects On Kohli's Fitness Influence

Ajinkya Rahane reminisces his time playing with Virat Kohli (@ImTanujSingh/X.com)

Ajinkya Rahane, a veteran Indian cricketer, most recently revealed in an interview with Curly Tales that former captain Virat Kohli influenced him a lot in terms of training, fitness, and diet. Kohli's discipline with his eating and training habits encouraged Rahane to adopt a similar lifestyle.

Virat Kohli served as the Indian cricket team's captain across all three formats for more than seven years, and under his leadership, a wave of physical discipline was seen in Indian cricket. Kohli vocalised the importance of fielding and how every professional player needs to be in their best shape to contribute heavily in that department.

He led by example by being one of the fittest cricketers across the world let alone in India and encouraged his team to follow the same. Now, even as Virat Kohli is no longer the captain, his everlasting impact is fairly visible in the present as well as the upcoming generation.

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Ajinkya Rahane enlists his learnings from Virat Kohli

That being said, Virat Kohli's influence extended way beyond the young cricketers. Recently, Ajinkya Rahane, a senior Indian batter, revealed that he learned a lot from Virat Kohli during their playing days together. Rahane served as a dependable middle-order batter, especially in the Test format for India, and achieved enormous success. 

In his interview with Curly Tales, Rahane recalled that he changed his eating and training habits after witnessing Kohli's discipline. He understood that it was the right way forward for an athlete to ensure longevity, and hence, he picked Virat's brain to change his way of living off the field.

 "I learned so many things from Virat Kohli. The way he goes about the game, the way he trained, his fitness and diet," he said.

While Ajinkya Rahane may not be a part of the Indian team set up any longer, he still remains one of the fittest cricketers across the country at the age of 36 and continues to grind hard in domestic cricket as captain of Mumbai domestic team.

Rahane snubbed for Border-Gavaskar series

Despite leading Mumbai to Ranji Trophy and Irani Cup victory in the last year, captain Ajinkya Rahane failed to make a comeback to the national side. In the BCCI released 18-member Indian squad for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Test series against Australia, Rahane, and Cheteshwar Pujara were ignored as Sarfaraz Khan and KL Rahul were trusted to handle middle-order duties.

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