Royal Challengers Bangalore won IPL 2026 and since then there is no limit to the happiness of its players and fans. But now this team has received a bad news. Basu Shankar, the strength and conditioning coach of this team, has retired. Basu Shankar is no ordinary strength and conditioning coach. Basu Shankar has a big hand in Virat Kohli’s fitness, which the world considers amazing today. After RCB won IPL 2026, Basu Shankar announced that he is now retiring from coaching. Let us tell you how Shankar Basu’s career was and how he changed both the life and career of Virat Kohli.
Who is Basu Shankar?
Basu Shankar was born on 3 August 1968. He has been a national level sprinter. His coaching career started with Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. He achieved this position in the year 1999. In the year 2004, he became the head trainer of the National Cricket Academy. In 2009, he joined Royal Challengers Bangalore and remained the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach there. Basu Shankar has trained many top athletes like Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Deepika Pallikal.
This news made us all teary eyed. …
This season was built on countless hours of hard work behind the scenes. To every member of our support staff and management who made this journey possible, thank you.
A special salute to Basu Shanker pic.twitter.com/K2UInIBhC9
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) June 3, 2026
Virat Kohli was transformed from ‘cheeku’ to ‘cheetah’
Virat Kohli is fondly called Chiku. He got this name during a match in his childhood. Virat Kohli was overweight earlier and his body was not in shape. It remained like this till the year 2014 and then in the year 2015 he got the support of Basu Shankar. The way Virat Kohli sweats in the gym. The kind of training he does was taught to him by Basu Shankar. Basu Shankar taught him weight training, recovery, avoiding injury and after this the back pain of Virat Kohli went away. His strength and recovery also improved significantly. Virat Kohli also improved his diet and his six pack abs also became popular on social media. Virat Kohli’s fitness improved and his run scoring rate also increased.
Virat is a fan of Basu Shankar
Virat Kohli himself had said in an interview that Basu Shankar had a big role in his success. He had said that it was Shankar Basu who transformed him in the year 2015. Virat considers him as his guru. After Virat Kohli became fit, this culture of fitness also came to Team India and today every player looks much fitter. As a result, Team India now wins Test series abroad and continues its dominance in ICC tournaments also.
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