Virat Kohli: I started playing cricket because of Sachin Tendulkar

New Delhi: Star Indian cricketer, who became the top ranked ICC Twenty20 batsman on Monday, credited Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar for his development as a batsman.

Virat Kohli feels that Tendulkar's advice to him during the initial stage of his cricketing career helped him immensely to develop as a player.

"I started playing cricket because of him (Tendulkar). I was inspired to do things he did for the country. I always visualise myself in those situations. I was lucky enough to be in the same dressing room when I started my career. He really helped me with the little things that I could improve in my game," Kohli was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia's website on Monday.

The 27-year-old, who scored truckload of runs in the recently concluded tour of Australia, added:"He (Tendulkar) really helped me with little things that I could improve on in my game. He saw something, he would come up to me himself and tell the areas I need to work on, which is quite rare. People of his stature won't always do that. It always gave me confidence and I got chance to bat with him and have big partnerships. That was the most special thing I could have asked for."

The mainstay of Indian batting line-up in all three formats of the game, Kohli, also disclosed the source of his much-talked-about aggressive streak as he said that a part of it, is inherited from his family while the rest can be blamed on the tough system he fought through to break into the international scene.

"I think it has got to do with the family, my father was a Leo, he could fight. He always believed in himself. I think it comes a bit from the family plus growing up in the Delhi system. It wasn't easy, you always had to fight to go up the system and that makes you mentally tough. You stop worrying about things around you and focus on what you want," said Kohli.