Former Australia umpire Simon Taufel, who saw Virat Kohli grow from close quarters in the international cricket for ten years, doesn’t have the same opinion about him. Taufel feels that Kohli is a “passionate and combative person” who sometimes get “emotionally hijacked”.
“On the captaincy front, I’ve seen Virat Kohli at close quarters for more than ten years at the elite level. He is sometimes a passionate and combative person who can occasionally get emotionally hijacked,” Taufel wrote in his book “Finding The Gaps”. Taufel, regarded as one of the best umpires to have officiated between 1999-2012, feels Kohli has matured with time and has become more “self-aware”.
Taufel also wrote that Kohli now “can adjust when he needs to” as he knows “how these character traits can affect his game”. “Virat now appears to be very much self-aware of who he is and how these character traits can affect his game, and he can adjust when he needs to,” Taufel wrote in a chapter titled “Leading with integrity and values” in his book.
Explaining what makes Kohli always be on top of his game, Taufel wrote: “Kohli is comfortable in his own skin, and this allows him to be a more authentic leader because he is being the best version of himself.”
