On Virat Kohli’s birthday, we look at what makes him the man, the myth and the legend he already is.
“To become a good player, you need talent. To become a great player, you need an ATTITUDE like Kohli.”
– Sunil Gavaskar
Just like Little Master, many have talked about Virat Kohli’s attitude, work ethics, drive and above all his impeccable batsmanship. Cricket being an obsession with most people in India, there have countless discussions about Kohli from all the possible angles.
Be it red ball cricket or white, Virat Kohli has unbelievable statistics all around, maintaining a healthy average. You write about his stats and within a couple of months, all you’re doing is just catch-up. As I often say,
Virat Kohli’s batsmanship is as efficient as Stephen King’s penmanship.
A Leader Like No Other
There are addas, then there are political addas, and then there are cricket addas. It is needless to say, cricket is no small talk in India. Every opinion matters, every stat counts. And one of the most hotly debated topics around these addas is, ‘Who is all-time best captain of Indian Cricket?’
Now, depending upon which era you come from you’ll defend your choice of caption. From MSD to Saurav Ganguly or some may even date back to Kapil Dev. But here I would like to make a case for Virat Kohli. Yes, Virat Kohli!
There have been fierce leaders, sharpest of minds but Virat Kohli is someone who leads by example. With his numero uno batting, he asks the same of his team, i.e. the numero uno position in world cricket. Virat Kohli is the personification of a balance between the unadulterated passion of Saurav Ganguly and a tactical genius of MSD. He keeps faith in his abilities and asks the same of his players. He shows passion in his successes and doesn’t shy away from showing his warrior instincts when cornered in any corner of the world.
In his book Winning Like Virat, Abhirup Bhattacharya speaks about how humble beginnings helped shape up a thorough cricketing mind:
Virat Kohli scored only 10, 12 and 19 runs in his debut domestic, ODI and Test matches, respectively. Today, he is hailed as one of the greatest batsmen in the world.
But how did this transformation come about?If we focus on Virat, the cricketer and the man, we will find some extraordinary traits—his leadership skills, the ability to keep his cool under pressure, a fearless attitude and a desire to win every game—that have shaped him as he is today.
Off the field too, his maturity in handling the media and business acumen testify to his excellent leadership and man-management skills. There is little doubt that Virat’s success is not a matter of luck alone but of relentless hard work and a dedicated goal to succeed. As a young professional or student there is a lot to learn from Virat’s achievement. Winning like Virat: Think and Succeed like Kohli attempts to understand the secrets of his phenomenal success and tells the reader how best to emulate these in life.
Virat! What’s in a name?
In Hindi, Virat literally means humongous or enormous. Each time Virat Kohli scores an important inning or continues his record-breaking streak, Virat seems to be drawing inspiration from his name. He lives up to his name and makes us believe in all things meta in the world with a seamless match between his name and his deeds.
There is a school of thought in India, don’t know about other cultures, that believes that names not only shape-up personalities but also bring about fortunes related to it. Now, there may have been thousands of Virats before Kohli’s emergence but there are millions now because of him. He is the inspiration for many people to name their newborns as Virat. Clearly, the name Virat is keeping up with its prestige in Virat Kohli.
But whatever the names of the characters in this great Shakespearean Indian Cricket Drama, one thing is pretty certain that Virat Kohli’s shadow will be looming long after he is gone. He turns 32 today, and I’m sure, this is not the only stat which is going to change with time.
Until we see Virat Kohli in action next time! Happy Birthday, Virat Kohli!
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