"He follows everything" - Team India star's interesting revelation on Virat Kohli ahead of 2025 World Cup

Indian cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues has revealed her conversation with Virat Kohli at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) when she was undergoing rehab. With Kohli asking about Rodrigues' innings against Pakistan during the 2023 Women's T20 World Cup, she was surprised by how the legendary cricketer remembered everything.

The match against Pakistan at Cape Town in the 2023 Women's T20 World Cup saw the right-hander craft a masterful innings of 53 off 38 deliveries. With the Women in Blue chasing a tricky 150, the youngster stayed unbeaten on 53 to help their side win by seven wickets.

When asked whether she had the chance to speak to Kohli, she revealed her conversation. While speaking to ESPNCricinfo's Cricket Monthly, Rodrigues elaborated:

"The first question I asked him was about how he was not having a great run for two years. I mean, he was scoring but it was like he had set his standards so high that people were like, "He is underperforming." But then came that India-Pakistan game at the MCG [2022 T20 World Cup]. I asked him, "What was going through your mind when you walked in there? There was so much pressure - how did you take it?" And the first thing he told me was: "What was going on in your mind when you played the India-Pakistan game in South Africa [2023 T20 World Cup]?" In my head I was like, "He follows everything!" (laughs)."

The 25-year-old opined that the conversation helped her deal with the mental side of things.

"It just speaks of his humility to just even care about what I thought during that match. That conversation really helped me with my game. We didn't speak much about technique, we just spoke more towards the mental aspect and how we approached the game."

Kohli hasn't played a competitive game since the IPL 2025 final for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and his next appearance for the national team is likely to be during the Australia tour in October.

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India to begin their World Cup preparations with ODI series against Australia

India will look to win their maiden Women's World Cup (File image; Getty)

Meanwhile, the Women in Blue will kickstart their preparations for the 2025 Women's World Cup with a three-game ODI series against Australia, beginning on September 14 in New Chandigarh.

Australia are the defending champions, having won the title in 2022 by beating England in the final. But India, who are the co-hosts, will fancy their chances of winning the trophy this time.

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Edited by Sooryanarayanan Sesha