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Young Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who made a rollicking start to his IPL career, referred Virat Kohli as the ‘Cristiano Ronaldo of cricket’. Rajapaksa incidentally slammed a superb 22-ball 43 against Kohli’s side Royal Challengers Bangalore to help his team Punjab Kings get off to a winning start in IPL 2022 by chasing down a stiff target of 206. After his heroics in the opening game, the attacking left-hander said he wants to learn from Kohli’s fitness regime and take his game to the next level, which the former India and RCB captain has managed to do with his strive to achieve optimum fitness playing a huge role in it.
“Outside of the team Virat Kohli is always someone I could speak to and get some advice on fitness. He’s at another different level when it comes to fitness. To me, he is the Cristiano Ronaldo of cricket for sure,” PBKS’ player Rajapaksa told PTI.
“The work he puts in you can obviously see the results. You can compare him to anyone when it comes fitness or even skills wise. He plays so hard and you can learn a lot by talking to him,” he said.
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On the ‘fitness versus skills’ debate, Rajapaksa has a clear view.
“As a player you need your fitness but it could be different from person to person. For me, of course, skill comes first. And then the fitness, but if you are not fit enough you definitely can’t perform.
“I’m actually working hard on my fitness. Whenever I get a free day I hit the gym early in the morning. That there are some fitness requirements to represent the country and with fitness, my international career would be longer,” he said.
The left-hander hit four sixes and two fours, scoring at a strike rate of 195.45 that stunned the RCB unit.
Rajapaksa’s international career, however, has been a little different. Despite his decent returns, he shocked the Sri Lankan Cricket Board by announcing his retirement only to take it back at the request of the minister and board.
“I’m hoping to play for the next three to four years at least and do the best for the country because after my resignation I had to withdraw it back because I had a couple of conversations with the technical committee and the Sports Minister as well. They wanted me to reconsider my retirement and I decided to withdraw it,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
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