Chennai: Virat Kohli, at 34, looks as hungry for runs as he did in his early days with the Indian team. Thousands of runs and an ever-increasing bouquet of records haven’t ever made him complacent as he continues with his impressive form in the ongoing World Cup.

The secret to his tireless pursuit of runs is, according to him, his desire to chase “betterment” and not “excellence”.

Kohli is currently India’s highest run-scorer in the tournament, having made 354 runs in five outings at an average of 118.00, including a century and three half-centuries.

“I have always worked on how I can better myself every day, every practice session, every year and every season. So, that is what has helped me play for this long and perform,” Kohli told Star Sports.

“I don’t think it is possible to perform consistently without having that mindset, because if performance is your goal, then one can get satisfied after a while and stop working on their game.

“It has always been my motto to chase betterment and not excellence because I honestly don’t know what the definition of excellence is. There is no limit to it, nor there is a set standard that when you reach here, you have achieved excellence.

“So, I try to work towards betterment every day, so that would be a better word to use. And yes, performance becomes a byproduct, because your mindset is ‘how do I make the team win from here’.”

Kohli’s hundred came against Bangladesh and he is now two short of breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most tons in ODI cricket.

After he scored 95 in India’s win over New Zealand in their last game, captain Rohit Sharma said: “Nothing much to say about Virat. We’ve seen him do this for so many years. He backs himself to do the job.”

With inputs from PTI