Virat Kohli – Channeling His Temper
How Virat Kohli went from a fiery temper to meditating on the field mid-match — and why emotional awareness is the first trait on your Winning Kite.
Virat Kohli was once known less for his cover drives and more for his temper — the shouting, the aggression, the arguments on the field. And yet, during a tense 2019 World Cup match, the same man was seen sitting quietly, meditating on the field during a break. That is not a personality transplant. That is emotional awareness, built one match at a time — and it is exactly what separates good professionals from great leaders in your office too.
In short- Virat Kohli, once famous for his fiery temper, learned to channel it — not suppress it.
- In a 2019 World Cup match he meditated on the field during a break to steady his nerves; India held on for a narrow win.
- Emotional awareness means noticing what you feel, tracing it to its trigger, and seeing how it lands on others — before it steers your actions.
- It is the first trait on the EQ side of your Winning Kite — the foundation everything else stands on.
- You can train it: name the feeling, pause, journal your triggers, and choose how you want to show up.
Where this sits on your Winning Kite
In my book Stars at India Inc., I map leadership onto a four-sided kite. The top is Success. The left side is EQ (Emotional Intelligence), the right side is RQ (Relationship Intelligence), and the bottom is PQ (Productivity). You rise on balance, not on strength alone — a kite with one strong side and three weak ones simply crashes. Emotional Awareness is Trait #1 on the EQ — the left — side. It comes first for a reason: you cannot manage what you cannot see. If you are new to the model, start here — The Winning Kite (KITE Leadership Framework) — then come back to this story.
The temper everyone remembers
For most of his early career, Virat Kohli wore his emotions on his sleeve — literally. He would scream at the boundary, spar with opposition players, pump his fist in your face. Fans loved the fire. Commentators worried about it. Because raw aggression is a double-edged sword: it can lift a chase, and it can just as easily tip into a moment you regret — a wild shot, a needless send-off, a lapse in judgment when the match is on the line.
Here is what most people miss. Kohli did not kill that fire. He learned to channel it. That distinction is the whole lesson. Emotional awareness is not about becoming a cold, flat person who never feels anything. It is about feeling deeply — and responding wisely.
The moment on the field
Cut to the 2019 World Cup. India is grinding through a tense match, the kind where nerves matter more than talent. The cameras find Kohli during a break — and he is not ranting, not pacing, not glaring. He is sitting, eyes closed, meditating on the field. Centering himself in the middle of the chaos.
Think about what that takes. In the exact moment when adrenaline is screaming at you to react, he chose to pause and breathe instead. That small act of self-regulation — catching the rising tension and settling it before it settled him — is what kept his head clear. India held its nerve and pulled off a narrow win. The meditation did not make headlines the way a fifty would. But it was the more important skill on display that day.
The man who was once known for his temper had become the man who could sit still inside a storm. That is not luck. That is a trait, built through years of self-observation.
The same skill decides careers in your office
Emotional awareness is not just a cricket-field skill — it is a boardroom skill, and I have watched it make and break careers. In Stars at India Inc. I tell four short, painful stories that live right beside Kohli's.
Pravin was a brilliant team leader at a software firm — but blind to his impact. Every review became a fault-finding session, every meeting a reminder of what went wrong. He called it “maintaining standards.” His team called it humiliation. Enthusiasm quietly died. People stopped taking initiative because they feared criticism. Deadlines slipped, innovation vanished — and Pravin blamed his team. He never once asked, “How is my tone affecting them?” Without emotional awareness, he could not see that he was the cause of the very mediocrity he despised.
Samantha, a customer-service executive, prided herself on honesty. But when customers got demanding, she raised her voice. She called it “standing up for herself.” The company called it “a pattern.” Her emotions grew louder than her professionalism, and eventually she was let go — not for lack of skill, but for lack of awareness.
Umesh, a senior executive, carried silent stress. His father's debts kept him awake at night. He came to work tired, distracted, reactive. Meetings blurred; decisions got delayed. He never saw that his personal storm had walked into the boardroom with him. His lack of awareness cost him clarity — and cost the company momentum.
Three different people, one common truth: when you can't see your emotions, your emotions start steering you. That is exactly the ditch Kohli climbed out of.
What it looks like when someone has it
Now meet Sanskriti, an HR professional at a tech startup. At home she has a toddler, a demanding schedule, a husband on late shifts, and sleepless nights that have become routine. Yet every morning she walks into the office with a smile. Back-to-back interviews, employee issues, late hours — and still she radiates calm.
Her secret is the same skill Kohli built. She knows when frustration is rising, when exhaustion is creeping in. She pauses. She breathes. She journals before leaving home. Then she chooses how she wants to show up. She does not suppress her emotions — she manages them. And because she does, her colleagues feel lighter around her. Her calm becomes contagious.
That is emotional awareness in action: feeling deeply, responding wisely. Sanskriti is your Sanskriti-in-the-office version of Kohli meditating at the boundary.
The whole team of examples on the field
Cricket makes this trait impossible to miss, so let me line up the full dressing room. Where Kohli learned to channel his fire, MS Dhoni — “Captain Cool” — mastered pure emotional steadiness: in the 2011 World Cup final, under unbearable pressure, he promoted himself up the order and finished the match with composure that won India the trophy. Hardik Pandya grew through awareness — heavily criticised in 2020, he did not react; he rebuilt, and by the next IPL season he was leading calmly, proving that reflection fuels growth.
And then the cautionary tales. Ravindra Jadeja, immensely talented, has occasionally let emotions take over — arguing on the field, losing focus. Skill without control can cost big moments. Sreesanth is the saddest of all — brilliant potential undone by unchecked emotions, a promising career ended by an inability to manage himself.
From boardrooms to cricket fields, one truth holds: without emotional awareness, even the most talented derail. With it, even the most pressured perform.
| Reaction (no awareness) | Response (with awareness) |
|---|---|
| Emotion fires → you act instantly | Emotion fires → you notice → you pause → you choose |
| Pravin humiliates the team; initiative dies | Sanskriti steadies herself; her calm spreads |
| A young Kohli sends off, loses focus | A grown Kohli meditates, holds his nerve |
How to build it at work this week
Emotional awareness is trainable — Kohli is living proof. In my corporate training programs I give teams a simple sequence, and you can start it today:
1. Name it before you act
The instant you feel your chest tighten in a meeting, silently name the feeling: “This is frustration.” “This is fear of looking bad.” Naming an emotion drains half its power — psychologists like Daniel Goleman, who popularised emotional intelligence, call this the first move of self-awareness. Kohli's version is the deep breath before the ball.
2. Trace it to its trigger
Ask, “What actually set this off?” Often it is not the person in front of you — it is Umesh's sleepless night, the argument at home, the fear left over from your last presentation. When you can trace the reaction back to its real trigger, you stop dumping it on innocent bystanders.
3. Watch how it lands on others
Pravin's blind spot was never his standards — it was his tone. Once a day, ask yourself, “How is my mood affecting the people around me right now?” That one question would have saved Samantha's job.
4. Journal and choose
Like Sanskriti, take two minutes before the day starts to write down what you are carrying — and then decide how you want to show up regardless. You cannot control that your father has debts or that the client is angry. You can control whether you walk in as a storm or as a steady hand.
Ask yourself the three questions I put to every leader I train: Do I recognise what I'm feeling before I act? Can I trace my reactions back to their triggers? Am I aware of how my emotions affect those around me? Because emotional awareness is the foundation of leadership — the skill that separates reaction from response. Master it, and your career doesn't just grow; it steadies, and it soars.
Once this foundation is solid, the rest of the Winning Kite opens up — the other EQ traits, then RQ and PQ. But it all starts here, on the left side, with the quiet skill of a champion sitting still inside a storm.
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Avinash Chate TEDx Speaker · Founder, The Future Corporate · Author of Stars at India Inc. Avinash has trained the Indian Army, BRO, RBI, BARC, JSW Steel and 1000+ corporate leaders across India. His work focuses on leadership, emotional intelligence and behavioural training rooted in Indian values and modern business needs. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is emotional awareness?
Emotional awareness is the ability to notice what you are feeling in the moment, trace it back to its trigger, and see how it is affecting the people around you — before it steers your actions. It is the foundation trait of emotional intelligence and the first trait on the EQ side of the Winning Kite.
How did Virat Kohli channel his temper?
Kohli, once known for his fiery temperament, worked on his emotional awareness for years. During a 2019 World Cup match he was seen meditating on the field during a break — centering himself in the chaos. That simple act of emotional regulation helped India hold its nerve and pull off a narrow win.
Why does emotional awareness matter at work?
Emotions are constant in every workplace — they will not disappear. Without awareness, they steer you: a harsh tone kills a team's initiative, an outburst ends a career. With awareness, even the most pressured professional responds wisely instead of reacting, which is what separates good professionals from great leaders.
Can you actually train emotional awareness?
Yes. Kohli was not born calm — he built it. You train emotional awareness by naming feelings as they rise, pausing before reacting, journaling your triggers, and checking how your mood lands on others. Avinash Chate builds this into live emotional-intelligence and leadership workshops for corporate teams.
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By Avinash Chate — Maharashtra’s #1 Corporate Trainer & Motivational Speaker. .