Virat Kohli's interview with Michael Vaughan: Fitness, drinks, parties, milestones and other best picks

New Delhi: There is hardly any cricket fan across the globe who has not felt touched with Virat Kohli's charismatic performance on the field.

The Indian Test skipper is widely recognized as the best batsman across all three formats in the game by many present and former cricketers.

The 28-year-old achieved a career best No. 4 in latest Test rankings and is placed at No.1 and No.2 spots in T20Is and ODIs as present.

Virat was recently interviewed by ex-England cricketer Michael Vaughan for The Telegraph and some mind-boggling revelations were made.

Here are the best takes from the Delhi boy's personal and professional life:-

On comparison with Tendulkar:-

"The moment I started doing well I was already compared to Tendulkar but it is like chalk and cheese in my book. People come up and have a debate and say you can break his records. You fight it for a while. You think why me? There are 10 more people in the team why do I have to go through this?"

I stood on the boundary and all they say is they want a century from me. But then I realised that over a period of time you set those benchmarks and those standards for yourself," he added.

Experiencing fan craze:-

The main thing in our country is people like to grab you and touch you and feel if you are real or not. I promise you.""I clearly remember after a World T20 game in Mohali against Australia this year. I felt people were reacting in a different way towards me, they looked at me as if I was walking in a circular light or something."

"I came out of security in the airport and there was this one guy who came up to me. I told security to calm down. He stood next to me and said ‘show me your hands’. I held them out and he touched them and it was as if a flow of current went through his body. I said ‘bloody hell’. I was so embarrassed. I think he thought I was Superman or something."

When Sachin Tendulkar asked him for a drink:-

“I don’t remember a word he said because I kept looking at him. You cannot express your feeling when you see the person who is the reason why you started playing the game and you wanted to become like him and then he just walks up. Those five seconds were the worst I swear.”

“It is a very Indian thing in front of your seniors you do not want to admit you drink or go to parties. Guys were very strict about it when I was growing up. Sachin asked me for a drink. I said I don’t drink. He persisted. I said I don’t drink. Eventually I said I will have four ice cubes. From then on it was pretty easy.”

On transformation from being chubby to the fittest Indian cricketer:-

"You can have the skill but do not think you need to train as much as a tennis player. But I realized if you want to stay on top playing three formats in this day and age you need a routine."

“My training was horrible, I ate so bad, I was up until late, I was having a drink or two regularly. It was a horrible mindset. The season ended and I was so thankful it was over. I went home, came out of the shower one day and looked at myself in the mirror and said ‘you can’t look like this if you want to be a professional cricketer."

"I was 11 or 12kgs heavier than I am now, I was really chubby. I changed everything from the next morning from what I eat to how I train. I was in the gym for an hour-and-a-half every day. Working really hard, off gluten, off wheat, no cold drinks, no desserts, nothing. It was tough."For the first two months, I felt I wanted to eat the bed sheet when I went to sleep because I was so hungry. I was craving taste. I was craving delicious food. But then I saw the results. I felt quick around the field. I would wake up in morning and feel like I had energy."

“One of the things I would love is for this team to win series outside India, not just in one place but everywhere we go. For me it is not winning one Test match and saying we made history and then not being able to follow that up. I want us to be the fittest Indian team that has played the game as well.""That is our goal to be become better people along years of playing together. Friendships to last. Most exciting thing is everyone is young building careers together. If things fall in the right place this could be a great phase for us."

On cricketing fate and celebrating milestones:-

“I think cricket chose me. My memory of growing up is me holding a cricket bat. It is the only game I played. As soon as I got hold of a bat I wanted someone to throw a ball at me for me to smack it. I am lucky that I am the third child in the family so there was not much pressure on me in terms of academics and making sure I got a degree and stuff. I was the one who was pampered because I am the youngest and I took advantage of it."Kohli recalled the first bat that he bought and how excited he was then. “It was RNS Larsons. I bought it from a sports shop. I still have a picture of me trying to bat with it. It was about 1000 rupees and pretty decent for the time. That was one of the challenges, getting the right stuff."

"I have curbed down celebrations with milestones . It feels like this is what I am supposed to do so why show much excitement? It is what I am picked to do."