"Had a few sessions with him in Mumbai" - When Virat Kohli credited Sachin Tendulkar for helping him improve after disastrous 2014 England tour

Virat Kohli headed to England in 2014 for the five-match Test series having built his reputation as one of the best batters in the business. However, he got a huge reality check during the grueling tour as he struggled miserably with the bat. In 10 innings, Kohli managed only 134 runs at an average of 13.40, with a best of 39. England legend James Anderson made him his bunny during that series.

Like all great players do, though, Kohli worked hard on his flaws and overcame his technical shortcomings. And the results were there for everyone to see. India's next big away tour was against Australia in 2014-15. The right-handed batter had a fantastic series, amassing 692 runs in eight innings at an average of 86.50, with four hundreds and one half-century.

During an interaction with opener Mayank Agarwal for bcci.tv in July 2020, Kohli revealed that he sought Tendulkar's advice to overcome his technical deficiencies after the horror 2014 tour of England. He said (as quoted by Sportstar):

“My hip position was an issue during that England tour [in 2014]. It was basically not adjusting to the conditions and doing what I wanted to do. So being rigid doesn’t take you anywhere. It was a long and painful realization but I realized it."

“I came back from England and spoke to Sachin paaji and had a few sessions with him in Mumbai. I told him that I am working on my hip position. He made me realize the importance of big stride, a forward press against fast bowlers as well," he continued.

"The moment I started doing that with my hip alignment, things started ironing out nicely and I became more and more confident of following that pattern, and then the Australia tour [of 2014-15] happened,” the former India captain added.

Apart from Tendulkar, Kohli credited former coaches Ravi Shastri and Duncan Fletcher for guiding him and helping him become a better batter.

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What happened when Virat Kohli toured England in 2018?

Having had a disastrous tour of England in 2014, there was plenty of curiosity over how Kohli would perform during India's Test next tour of England in 2018. Captaining the side, he was a completely different player this time.

Even as India lost the hard-fought series 4-1, Kohli was the leading run-getter, with 593 runs in 10 innings at an average of 59.30.

The Indian batting star began the series with 149 and 51 in Birmingham. He scored 97 and 103 in the third Test in Nottingham and contributed 46 and 58 in the fourth Test in Southampton.