“I was nervous when I was asked to open but it wasn’t like I was opening the innings for the first time. The crowd pressure and playing against (Chaminda) Vaas affected my performance a little. But after the first game I started to believe in myself more,” says Kohli.

He says that because he’s been playing in the middle-order for long, he’s accustomed to a different mental set-up. As a middle-order batsman, “one has to be prepared for a lot of things.” With Tendulkar and Sehwag sure to return, Kohli knows that for sometime in the future he’ll have to settle for a place on the bench. “Let’s see what happens. Everything keeps happening all the time,” he says with a wave of his hand.

Long way to go

Dav Whatmore, who coached India’s under-19 World Cup winning squad says Kohli’s got the ability but still has to truly prove himself. “There is no doubt about his potential but he has just played only one series. Let him play some more matches and then he will be in a better position to judge for himself. There is no doubt in his ability,” he says.

Kohli might have proven he’s good enough to reach where he has, but now the pressure is on him to stay there.