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Trent Woodhill is the high-profile coach who hasn’t played the cricket himself, not even in the first class level, has worked with celebrity cricketers such as AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag, Kevin Pietersen, Steven Smith and David Warner. His idea of playing cricket lies in the technique and he looks at the game with different prisms wherever he goes. Currently, the coach is working with Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he in charge of ‘Batting Talent Development’ along with being the fielding coach.
According to Australia’s Trent Woodhill, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli are like the Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal of cricket in their skills and approach. Talking about Virat Kohli in a chat with one of leading sports publication, he said, “He’s the most impressive sportsman I’ve had the pleasure to work with – in any sport. He’s in the same stratosphere as Roger Federer, Cristiano Ronaldo, or Messi. His approach to his own cricketing career and everything involved around it is extremely professional. He’s definitely fitter than he’s ever been. What that allows you to do is under pressure, you’re able to replicate technique and replicate movement patterns. So he’s less likely than others to play a lazy shot or not execute the way he’d like because his fitness and his mind is so sharp. And that’s where that brilliance lies.”
He further talked about Kohli’s preference over short, intense sessions a day before the game and said, “I’m a fan of that as well. To me, time is irrelevant. It’s actually the quality of your session through trying to replicate as high a tempo as you would in a match. Twenty20 games are frenetic. If you don’t train at that pace, it’s hard to step into that space the next day.”
“Short, sharp, make sure you’re making lots of good contacts–is far better for you than having a three-hour net where you’re hitting lots of balls and getting tired. Really, the most balls you’re going to face in T20 matches is between 65 and 70, and that’s maybe once every two years. On average it is somewhere between 30 and 40 balls for the top three or four, and then it gets less for the other players. So you don’t need lots of volumes, but you need high impact, high tempo. Small amounts but high quality.” He added.
According to Woodhill, Kohli and AB, are the Nadal and Federer of the cricket world and for him, it’s tough to pick who is the best of them. He said that AB and Federer share a similar DNA and the same with Nadal and Kohli. The point’s never dead for Nadal, and the point’s never dead for Virat. And AB, he finds a way as Federer does, in conditions where others struggle.
He further talked about Virendra Sehwag and said, “I’ve been lucky enough to work with a lot of good players, but those two – with Virender Sehwag – stand out for me as three people who have extreme knowledge of their own games. And because they have extreme knowledge of their own games, they are able to prepare in a way that allows them to replicate success. And that’s what separates great players from very good players, the ability to replicate success and not have down periods. And those two players have done that over a long period of time, across formats as well.”
Woodhill has not played higher than grade cricket in Sydney. “It was difficult for your average professional cricketer because they had a sense of, ‘This is my VIP room and what are you doing here?’ But someone like Kevin Pietersen especially and Sehwag—those two guys made it perfectly clear to me that they had no interest in what I’d done as a cricketer. They were only interested in how I can help them now. And that’s a similar nature to what I have in my life. It’s not what I’ve done but how I can help them now. The guys at Delhi and RCB have been brilliant in that regard. They literally have no interest in my background. They’re only interested in how I can make sure they’re ready for that next game.” He said.
Those who come to him for training has never gone disappointed. For the cricket fans, it’s always a pleasure to see Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in action on the ground.
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