Liking Virat Kohli did not come easy to me. Much before the Australians labelled him a spoilt brat, I was quick to dismiss him as a spoilt “Dilli da munda” (a Delhi boy) after seeing him celebrate the Under-19 World Cup win in 2008. My middle-class values had taught me that the only way to be successful was to be humble, mannered and grounded. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble were the examples I looked up to. Yes, Sourav Ganguly was outspoken and brash, but he still had the demeanour of a nice guy.
The Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh generation had already started breaking this stereotype. But their middling success somewhere confirmed my existing bias that a guy dating a Bollywood actress could not become a world beater like a Tendulkar or a Dravid.
Meanwhile, a chubby young Kohli was showing promise in his early days. In an Under-17 match in 2005, he walked in at 70/4 with the team chasing 370, and scored an unbeaten 251 to win the game. The foundations of the one of the greatest chasers of all time were already being laid.
Ready with the lip
A few years into his international career, Kohli really started blooming. He had the swagger of Viv Richards, the cockiness of Ricky Ponting and the dedication of Sachin Tendulkar. But then, he also had the vocabulary of a contestant on MTV Roadies.
For a father watching the game on TV with a teenage kid, Kohli celebrating a century was an awkward moment. A generation raised on satellite television that beeps expletives had become an expert on lip reading.
My own father would have cringed at those celebrations, reminding me how success seems to have gone to his head and his days are numbered with that kind of attitude. But with one superlative batting exhibition after another, he literally “chased” away those middle-class myths a few of us had needlessly hung on to.
When Kohli bats these days, the ground is his easel and the bat his paintbrush making bold, brilliant, masterful strokes. It isn’t just his range of strokes and precision of placement, but his temperament and composure that stands him out from the rest. His game awareness is incomparable, he plays every format and in every situation demanded of him. The consistency with which he has been scoring big runs over extended periods might have made even Bradman stand up and applaud.
Like all greats, Kohli’s brilliance transcends mediums. He isn’t just a great batsman but a transformational figure in other areas. He often attributes his success to his fitness and diet, something cricketers from this part of the world haven't exactly been renowned for.
Beyond success
Perhaps it’s his almost legendary fitness diet that makes him so hungry for success everywhere else. Being the best batsman in the world isn’t enough for him. He owns a fashion brand and supercars, makes appearances on late-night shows, and routinely turns up at Bollywood parties. He has the mannerisms and words of a statesman in his pressers.
Kohli is often compared to Sachin Tendulkar for his consistency, his records, his penchant for scoring hundreds and the ability to take his team out of the woods so often. Both Tendulkar in his time and Kohli now are pioneers of their generation, who influenced not just the game but the entire nation. However, the way they influence you could not have been more different.
Tendulkar invites you to like him, but Kohli dares you to hate him. If Tendulkar is god, then Kohli is love. You worship gods unquestionably, but love challenges your beliefs, even your existence. God gives you peace, love gives you a high.
Kohli had us on a high throughout the ninth edition of this Indian Premier League. So what if he walked out vanquished from the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday night. We were edgy but we believed. A sad ending to a great romance, yes, but it takes nothing away from the adulation he receives from us. In his own words, before the start of the final, “the juggernaut doesn’t stop rolling there.”
But amid everything else, the spoilt brat has grown up to become the best batsman of his time in the world. And, perhaps, more importantly, among the classiest figures in international cricket.
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