Shadowing Practice: Virat Kohli: Visualizing successes - Learn English Speaking with Video

In what ways would you say you're an aggressive batsman?

Well, I've always liked to take control of the situation.

I've always been a kind of a player who would walk into a situation

and turn the situation towards in the favor of my team.

And that's why I think I'm an aggressive batsman, because a lot of people, they would go in and they would be wary of the situation, whether they want to attack or not.

My game is totally counter-attack.

My game is, if I look at spaces in the field,

I think of the fact that I can score runs here and I don't feel like I might get out.

So, you have two ways of approaching your skill.

Either you give in to the opposition's plans and their mind games, or you believe in yourself and say, everyone's looking at this as a pressure situation, but I look at it as an opportunity.

So I go in with that mindset, and 8 out of 10 times, it happens in a way that I'm able to counterattack.

And explain the role that angles play.

Angles play a huge role in terms of batsmanship as well.

Sometimes you have to...

So basically what we have in cricket is we have the batting crease,

which is a line, which traditionally you stand either side of the line and that's the normal setup of a batsman.

But sometimes when, so if you play in England, the ball swings, it moves around.

You know, when the bowler bowls the ball.

So in baseball, you don't have the ball moving around so much.

But in cricket, you have a lot of variation with the ball where the ball has a seam stitch to it.

So when it pitches on the surface, it can go either way.

It swings in the air because of the conditions, because of the shine on the ball.

So there's so many variables that you need to counter

and batting is about a split second of a decision

if I make the wrong decision I sit outside

and I clap all day So the precision of

that split second has to be so good

and you have to keep countering it

and keep being in the right Mindset every ball of the game every second of the game.

It's starting at the end of the day as well mentally

But to counter those kind of things

if you stand in your normal sort of traditional position you have more chances of getting out.

So sometimes you cut angles in a way that you stand in a different place to make the bowler do something different.

So those are the things that work really well in your favor in cricket.

How does visualization help with that?

It is everything for me.

How so?

So if you're going to play an overseas tour, say to Australia or England or something like that, I literally sat down two,

three months before, and I've made a decision in my head that I'm going to take their best bowler on.

And when I train in the gym, when I'm practicing, regularly there are visuals running in my head,

me dominating that bowler.

When I train, I have music on, I'm putting myself in a situation where that guy is bringing the heat on to me, and I'm countering that, and you know, that becomes such a reality in your head.

And invariably, when I went into that situation, I ended up dominating that guy in their own home conditions.

And what specifically are you seeing when you're visualizing it?

Um, I'm actually seeing smashing that bowler all over the field.

So I actually feel that emotion in my heart, and I can feel that this is going to happen.

And you tune your head or you tune your mind in a way

that it's so convincing in your mind that when you're in that situation, your body just takes over because it's already registered in your mind.

And when that happens, you feel like, wow, man, this is so powerful.

Because if something looks difficult and if you don't convince yourself to go out there and achieve the opposite, you're never going to be able to do it.

You can't just land in a place and say, I'll see what happens.

that way your chances of succeeding become very, very low.

Your first year in the IPL, you're playing with some of the best players in the world.

Your coach Raj Kumar said that your shortcoming was overconfidence.

How so?

It was.

I lost my way.

I drifted quite a bit, and eventually I had the worst season I could have, and I had discipline issues,

and I actually lost my way pretty badly.

You know, I just saw this whole frenzy and this attention on me

and suddenly playing with the biggest stars in the world and they make you feel welcome.

They make you feel friendly and you feel like I'm the man, you know, I'm everything and I can do anything I want.

So, yeah, I did lose my way and again, he pulled me up.

He called me, he's like, you need to get your act right.

Is that what he said specifically?

Yeah, he said, I've heard things

and you need to be careful you need to stay away from all this stuff that's been happening.

And what was the stuff?

Just being distracted, just partying, just not that focused, not focusing on my training, my diet, nothing.

My graphs just kept going down.

And I didn't realize it.

I was like, I got so carried away just wanting to be around these people and doing, you know, anything just to be socially accepted and,

you know, just to be part of groups and wanting to hang out with cool people and stuff like that.

And after that, I realized that I was heading into a totally wrong direction.

In what ways do you think you struggled at times handling hecklers?

Well, I've had many instances where I lost my cool with people who would sort of poke me

or urge me to lose my temper.

What would get to you the most?

I think the stuff that would get to me the most was bad sledging.

Like if someone, so sledging, I don't know if you know about sledging.

Sledging is basically when you're playing on the field

and people say nasty things to you just so you can get out and make you lose your focus.

So when those kind of nasty things happen, I just lost my cool completely.

And people would get personal as well.

A lot of the time they would get personal.

And these are other players?

Other players from other countries.

And I would totally not.

Like what would they say?

They would say stuff which was, oh, this is the last time he's going to ever play for his country and you know, this is it and you're never going to see his face again.

And those kind of nasty things.

And he felt like, yes, you want to get someone out, but you can't snatch someone's life away from them by saying stuff like that.

If a young guy comes in and he actually believes in it, you could destroy his whole life.

I can understand people lose their temper and they fight against each other, they swear at each other.

But you don't wish that someone never comes back to play the sport that they've loved playing since they were kids.

So those kind of things would rile me up and then the crowd plays a big role as well.

The crowd riled me up as well a few times.

And one time I flicked a finger.

I flicked the middle finger at the crowd as well.

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And it was so funny in Australia.

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I had had enough of the crowd coming at me every time.

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And I would hear stuff which was so nasty.

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And I was like, man, this is so bad.

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I never thought this was going to be the case, playing cricket at the highest level.

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So I flicked the middle finger.

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And then next day I come in, the match referee, the guy who's in charge of the code of conduct.

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He gave you a pass.

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He called me into the office and he said, so what happened yesterday?

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And I said, nothing.

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What happened?

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He said, what happened at the boundary line yesterday?

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I said, nothing happened.

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It was all good.

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The crowd was saying some things and I just went on with it.

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I didn't say anything.

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And then, boom, he drops this newspaper in front of me.

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I have a 14, 15 inch long picture of myself on the front page of

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an Australian newspaper with my middle finger right up there and it was in your blood.

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And immediately I said, I'm sorry.

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I immediately accepted.

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I said, I'm so sorry.

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Please don't ban me.

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I will never do this again.

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And so he took half of my match piece away, and then he warned me, and then he was like, you should be careful.

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You're young.

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You don't want to spoil your career.

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But I kept learning with my mistakes.

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Why did an Australian newspaper call you the Donald Trump of world sport?

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Yeah, a lot of nasty things happened back in the day.

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I think both sides were quite naive.

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I was quite naive to lose my temper.

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They were quite naive to form a judgment so quickly.

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And we always think that our side of the story is right.

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So that's exactly what happened in that situation.

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They really took it to the next level.

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And I was like, well, it is what it is.

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And I've called it upon myself.

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Why did your mom give you a locket and gold chain to help with your temper?

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Well, it's something.

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It's a sea pearl stone, which is supposed to be calming.

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People in India believe in wearing a lot of stones.

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It has a scientific meaning to it as well

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because of the elements of the stone and the magnetic field around us

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and how it impacts certain characteristics in us as well.

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So she gave me one saying, this is going to help you with your temper.

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I don't know to what extent it helped me, to be honest.

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But yeah, the effort was certainly there, but I kept losing my temper.

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Why do you think you've since had so much success in calming yourself down?

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Well again you learn.

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After a while you feel like you really don't have any competition.

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It's just all made up in your own head and at the end of the day you're just competing with yourself.

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So my main focus now is to not disappoint myself first as a person

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and then impact the people immediately who are connected to me immediately.

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So they see if I have a downfall and things will become negative around me.

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So I become more aware of my mistakes.

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I become more aware of if I mess up at any time, I need to be the first one to correct it rather than someone having to come and say,

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you're going down the wrong direction.

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So I think acceptance and awareness has certainly changed my life.

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Learn English with Virat Kohli: Insights into Mindset and Cricket

In this engaging video, cricket star Virat Kohli discusses his aggressive batting style, the role of angles in cricket, and how visualization fuels his success. The conversation is a goldmine for english speaking practice—it’s conversational, uses relatable examples, and includes dynamic vocabulary that’s perfect for IELTS speaking practice. Whether you’re a sports fan or just looking to improve your English, this dialogue offers real-world language use that’s both interesting and practical.

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

"Take control of the situation" – Useful for describing leadership in work or personal life.
"Counterattack" – Great for talking about responding to challenges, not just in sports.
"Split second of a decision" – Perfect for describing quick choices in busy moments.
"Tune your mind" – A natural way to talk about focusing or preparing mentally.
"Bring the heat" – A casual phrase for when someone is putting pressure on you.

Step-by-Step Shadowing Guide for This Video

Shadowing (or shadow speak) is a powerful way to improve english pronunciation and fluency. Here’s how to use this video: 1. Listen once: Focus on the main ideas—Kohli’s mindset, angles, and visualization. 2. Pick a 30-second clip: Choose a section with clear speech (try the part about visualization). 3. Repeat immediately: Pause after each sentence and mimic Kohli’s tone, pace, and stress. Notice how he emphasizes words like "opportunity" and "reality." 4. Record yourself: Compare your recording to the video. Check if you’re matching the rhythm—cricket terms like "seam stitch" or "batting crease" can be tricky, so practice their pronunciation. 5. Expand to longer clips: Once comfortable, try 1-minute sections. This helps with maintaining flow, a key skill for IELTS speaking practice.

By learning english with videos like this, you’re not just practicing language—you’re absorbing real, dynamic communication. So hit play, start shadowing, and watch your English skills grow!

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've always liked · I've always been · I've made
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	people who would · stuff which was · stone, which is
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	being distracted · are connected

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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