When Gambhir recited 'Hanuman Chalisa' and Kohli chanted 'Om Namah Shivay'

They are both quintessential Delhiites with an aggressive streak to deal with intense situations but when it comes to the extraordinary both India head coach Gautam Gambhir and star batter Virat Kohli find inner strength from their faith in the divineAs they sat down for a rather unconventional chat ahead of the IND vs BAN 1st Test curated by the BCCI for its official website Kohli and Gambhir dwelled on the many similarities they have and as it turns out faith in almighty is one of themWhen Gambhir was trying to save a Test match against New Zealand in Napier a decade and a half back he recalled how Hanuman Chalisa helped him find the resolve to play that epic knock that was spread over two daysSimilarly in 2014 Kohli hit four Test hundreds Down Under and he would pay his obeisance to Lord Shiva by chanting Om Namah Shivay while battingGambhir was the one to reveal this during his interview by Kohli when the conversation turned to spiritualityLets talk about a few moments in IndiaAustralia series The most special one will be the double hundred in our home I want to talk about the mindset of the innings What keeps you grounded and anchored Kohli quizzed his coach during the bccitv podcastAdapting to the situation and navigating the path to victory in the words of Virat Kohli WATCH his insightful conversation with TeamIndia Head Coach Gautam Gambhir mdash BCCI BCCI September 18 2024Instead of talking about me I remember when you had that bumper series in Australia where you scored heaps and heaps of runs you were telling me that you kept saying Om Namah Shivay before every delivery And that got you in that zone Gambhir responded as Kohli nodded in agreementGambhir batted for nearly two days and half a session for his 136 He faced 436 balls and the duration of his innings was 10 hours and 43 minutesIt was about saving India from the ignominy of an innings defeat after New Zealand having piled 600 plus first innings total enforced a followon India The visitor had managed 305 in their first inningsFor me thats exactly what happened in zone when I played in Napier I batted for twoandhalf days Gambhir saidI dont think I could have ever done that again The only thing I did for those twoandahalf days was listen to Hanuman ChalisaFor me getting into that zone you got there by chanting Om Namah Shivay for me I got into that zone by listening to Hanuman Chalisa When I talk about being in that zone very few times in your career you can be in that zone Its divine to be in that zone Gambhir shared a 133run stand for the second wicket with Rahul Dravid 97 for the third wicket with Sachin Tendulkar and 96 for the fourth wicket with VVS LaxmanAlso Read Gambhirrsquos trio takes center stageI remember Laxman telling me when I was batting on Day 5 in Napier After that first session when I was walking back he told me Do you realise you have not uttered a word for the last two hours even between overs I realised that I did not say a wordAll I did between overs was nod and play and when I got back I put on Hanuman Chalisa and listened to it For those twoandhalfdays it was like completely zoned outI am sure you must have experienced this many more times than I did Unless and until you are in that zone you wont understand how it feels the feisty southpaw of yesteryears saidWith agency inputs