Dubai: Indian captain Virat Kohli admitted he was pretty scared to hit the nets for the first time in five months but said his first training session ahead of the upcoming IPL went better than expected.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore captain resumed training after a five-month coronavirus-forced hiatus. The net session was also attended by South African pace legend Dale Steyn and RCB team director Mike Hesson.
(It went) much better than expected, to be honest. I was pretty scared. I hadn’t picked up a bat for five months, but yeah it came out better than I thought, to be honest, Kohli was quoted as saying by the franchise’s website.
The 31-year-old, who was RCB’s highest run-getter in IPL last year, said staying fit during the lockdown helped him to react better during the net session even though he was training after a long break.
I’ve trained quite a bit during the lockdown, so I’m feeling quite fit and that helps. Because the body is light and you react better, I feel like I have more time on the ball. That’s a big plus, he said.
‘Otherwise you come heavier into the season, the body isn’t moving as much, and it starts playing on mind, but yeah, as I said it went much better than I expected.’
RCB arrived in Dubai last week ahead of the 13th IPL which is scheduled to begin on September 19 in the UAE. The cash-rich T20 event was moved out of India due to the rising COVID-19 cases in the country.