By Arvind Chhipa
From Kohli to King Kohli
The list of world-class players in cricket is a long one. So is its history and records. In August 2008 though, a run-machine made his international debut. One who would make it look ridiculously easy to touch history and break records. With equal ounces of talent, skill, ability, passion, aggression, and confidence. An Indian sporting icon with a popularity that transcends borders. Virat Kohli. 70 international centuries spread across just 11 years. The pace of his game has been astonishing. So has been his conversion rate of taking the fifties to hundred. Not just taking the boundary hitting route but also with an excellence in the running between the wickets genre. A multi-dimensioned chasing master in the white ball format. As classic as any batter that red ball cricket has ever seen.
When he became the test captain of Team India in 2014, after MS Dhoni's out of the box retirement call, the team was ranked 7th in Tests. Under him, for six consecutive years, India were the number one test side. The levels of confidence he has created in his team have been a direct result of his tremendous commitment and passion for the longer format in the era of swashbuckling white ball cricket. Beating Australia in Australia twice. Drawing a tough series in England spread across two years. Kohli has played a huge role in reviving the popularity of the oldest format of the game (test cricket). Arguably the greatest ambassador of Test cricket in the contemporary format. The late Shane Warne said so, and so have others. In the day and age of the fast, the Kohli body language was what the slow and graceful format of the game needed. Harsha Bhogle had once said, "In India, if you are talking Virat and Rohit, you've got to look at Virat. Virat is born to be a captain. Virat was born to look around and say, ‘I own this place.’”
The Fall
The truth of life holds well in the court of sport as well. The seemingly immortals are indeed, just mortals. No matter how good a player you are, the worst phase will catch up. In 2019, when Kohli hit his 70th international ton and India’s first in a Pink Ball Test, his idol’s world record of 100 centuries looked like a reachable destination. Especially for a fitness miracle like him.
However, after the COVID lockdown was lifted and cricket resumed. Since then, he had been in the worst phase of his career. It was as if the world had been witnessing a different Virat Kohli. With time, his desire to get into form seemed to be transforming into desperation. Though he has always had excellent cricketing acumen, he started playing such loose shots, which we don’t expect from a world-class player like him. He was constantly repeating the same mistakes, which made it very easy for the bowlers to get him out. Despite getting some good starts, he was not able to convert them into big innings.
Days passed, then months, and then years. People started questioning his abilities. He went through a lot of criticism for his form. Who would have thought that a person who always loved leading from the front would quit the captaincy? But it happened. The 2021 T20 World Cup game against Namibia was his last as captain. With no time, he was denied the ODI captaincy, and soon he quit the test captaincy as well, which will remain a shock for me. “How could he? Why did he?” A storm of thoughts ran through my head as I heard the news. First the disappointment of losing the Test series and missing a golden chance to beat SA (South Africa) in SA and then came the announcement, “Virat Kohli steps down from test captaincy”. It was extremely shocking. But no one knew what he was going through. As fans, we could only respect his decision. Had he continued the captaincy, he would have easily become the test captain with the most wins. Only 13 behind Graeme Smith, who tops the list with 53 wins. A milestone to remember for ages. Unfortunately, things don’t always happen as we want them to.
The Suffering
All this while, people were still waiting for his 71st century. Fans were expecting him to come back in form since he was free from the captaincy burden. Sadly, it didn't happen. Life wasn't yet done with him. It kept getting harder and harder for him. I often wonder how he would have dealt with that kind of pressure every day for that long period. Waking up every day and realising that it's been a long time since I have not scored a Hundred. The level of criticism he was facing, especially by his own countrymen in India.
I am a die-hard Rohit Sharma fan. But I remember watching every game in the hope of Kohli's century for more than two years now. Every match, I had hoped that today he would score it. I used to be more scared than excited whenever he batted. With every ball he used to face, I used to fear, "yaar is ball pe out na ho jaye". It is very unlikely to have this kind of feeling for a player of Virat Kohli's calibre. But unfortunately, all those times, he went to the pavilion without scoring a hundred. The nervous and uncertain mindset was clearly seen most of the time in his game. We’ve all lost count of how many times we got disappointed and so had he. Even luck wasn't on his side. On many occasions, I used to be so upset with him getting out constantly that I would lose the excitement of watching the rest of the game, which was contradicting my nature.
The Realisation
After a phase of incessant lows in his career, Finally, he realised that he needed a complete break from cricket. Sometimes when you are constantly failing or struggling in life and you are not able to step forward, it is better to take a step back and introspect. Give yourself some time off. He finally took a break.
After the break, in an interview with Star Sports, Kohli said, “For the first time in 10 years, I didn’t touch my bat for a month. I haven’t done that ever in my life. I came to the realisation that I was trying to kind of fake my intensity a bit recently. ‘I can do it, you’re competitive’, you’re convincing yourself you have the intensity, but your body is telling you to stop, your mind is telling you to just take a break and step back. I’m looked at as a guy who is mentally very strong, and I am. But everyone has a limit and you need to recognise that limit, otherwise things can get unhealthy for you. I am not shy to admit that I was feeling mentally down. And this is a very normal thing to feel, but we don’t speak because we are hesitant. We don’t want to be looked at as mentally weak. Trust me, faking to be strong is far worse than admitting to be weak," Well, after this statement, my respect for him simply grew more and more.
The long-awaited century
08/09/2022, India's last game in the Asia Cup since it was eliminated after a very disappointing performance. So many people would not have wanted to watch it. So was I. But then I saw the score on cricbuzz, Kohli on 48 on just 25 balls. My heart was filled with hope again and I thought maybe he would score a century, but I was like, let it be. It's a T20. He has never scored a century in T20. But in some corners of my mind, I still thought it was possible. That day, it was more of a belief than hope as he had played some good knocks in the previous matches of the tournament where he did seem more calm and composed. He looked better.
Before I could think much, he was already on 90, with 12 balls left. I took my phone, thinking I would not want to miss capturing this extremely emotional moment, but I was also scared as hell. And then, he just hit a four and a six. Oh my god. Finally! The 71st came. It was an extremely emotional feeling for me as a fan. In fact, it was something that hundreds of thousands of people around the world cannot express. It can only be felt by the true lovers of the sport. If it was that much for us, then what about the feeling Kohli must have had after that six? It was visible, but only he knew how deep it was. The amount of relief he must have felt at that moment is incalculable. He just would not stop smiling. The smile, which was carrying a huge amount of pain behind it. That one-second moment when he bent down and felt that sigh of relief. I literally had tears in my eyes.
Kohli said after the century, "And I kissed my ring in the celebration as well. You see me standing here like this right now because all the things that have been put into perspective have been done by one person, who stood by me through all these difficult times. That's Anushka. This hundred is for her and for our little daughter Vamika as well,"
Later, in the post-match presentation, Kohli again mentioned, "Time away from the game gave me a good chance to sit back and observe a lot of things about me. Six weeks off, I was refreshed. I understood, after taking a break, how tired actually I was, mentally and physically. It was a blessing in disguise for me. I mentioned one special person - Anushka - who stood by me through these tough times, and I mentioned her as she has seen the absolute raw side of me throughout all these months that have gone by, which has been very tough to be honest. So, she is the one who kept giving me the right kind of guidance and vision moving forward,"
The lesson
It was a journey of not so many ups but mostly downs. It was a journey on which he was not embarked alone. Millions of people were always there to support him, no matter what. It also showed the world the level of Virat Kohli's fan following. The enormous amount of love and respect people have for him and his game. As Gautam Gambhir has rightly said, "no one in that dressing room would have survived 3 years without a hundred."
This is not just a story of a cricketer who had not scored a century for 3 years, but it is a lot more than that. It is one of the biggest examples of how life tests you. How you must face difficulties in life. It taught us how harsh life can be on you. It doesn't care if you are a "Virat Kohli". Rather, it only becomes "100" times harder if you are Virat Kohli. But no matter how long it takes, the good days always come back. And bad days are only a phase.
To be continued….
Though he has scored a century now, I still feel like he is not in his best zone. He still sometimes gets desperate to hit a boundary, only to come out of the crease and miss it badly. But I am sure he will be at his best once again, sooner rather than later.
By Arvind Chhipa