During his most recent game, Virat Kohli easily caught the second-to-last ball thrown by the opposing team right at the long-on boundary. As soon as he made the play, he punched the air triumphantly. Our eyes then follow him as he turns towards the crowd, with fans realizing who the agile fielder is. All while on his feet, Virat Kohli beats on his chest with fervor and lets out a triumphant roar.
This is just who he is, always has been. He has constantly delighted in this identity of his: all out, fully committed in all that he does, every moment of his life.
So much so that early-career Kohli was regarded as a brat by many non-Indians (and not a few Indians). At home, this promising young batter clearly endeared himself, not least when he declared after the 2011 World Cup final that Sachin Tendulkar had “carried the burden of this nation for 21 years, so it’s time we carried him.”
But he was the rat who threw a middle finger at an Australian stand, retaliated when other crowds were hostile, celebrated wickets more animatedly than any of his teammates, became a figure of impotent rage when India lost and a finger in the eye of opposition fans when India won.
Virat Kohli? Comparable to Tendulkar? Among the finest ever? Get the hell out of here. He’ll exhaust himself. This cannot be sustained. Let him first learn to behave himself.
The age of the skeptics was short-lived because of how fiercely Virat Kohli burned. He immediately became the heir to an incomparable. Even when Kohli’s success was only beginning, Tendulkar’s legacy was forced onto him at home, much to the amazement of many of us watching.
The Sachinification of Virat Kohli has made more sense in the years afterward, as India’s economy has boomed and its space program has made tremendous gains. Perhaps there was a void that needed to be filled. Tendulkar’s ascension was marked by a calm, old-world sensibility that matched India’s emerging global significance. Kohli’s rise 20 years later seemed to want to be the center of attention. Here was a tornado of a cricketer, created by the same winds that were sparking India’s most recent change.
Kohli, still thumping his chest, still yelling into the night, still picking fights with opposition players, has found his own style of maturity
There was the bravado, of course, but there was also a determination to back down and an assiduous pursuit of every advantage. There was also constant evolution, with one poor Test tour of England in 2014 prompting a rethink of his batting strategy (batting forward more, outside the crease, giving up some of his back-foot play) that completely refuted the notion that he couldn’t contend with the swinging red ball. He always had gears in T20, but he started moving through them more proactively.
Through the middle of the past decade, you had the impression that Virat Kohli could conquer any obstacle. Rohit Sharma made two centuries, and Steven Smith dominated Tests. However, there was no larger mass generator of hundreds in ODIs. Kohli was poised not just to break Tendulkar’s record of 49 tons, but also to do it quickly.
Perhaps here is where the two are most dissimilar. Tendulkar, whose humility was first among his non-cricketing traits, who took adoration but did not openly revel in it, and whose private life was primarily his own, was nearly heavenly. Virat Kohli, who wasn’t a Test batter at 16, whose mistakes were public, whose language was aggressive, whose every action was captured on social media, and whose wife, actor Anushka Sharma, is a highly followed public personality in her own right, was extremely human.
In pursuit of his aspirations, he altered his diet, worked out rigorously, performed Olympic lifts, documented all of it, sold it to corporations, gained money, and appeared in advertisements that converted his desire into rupees. Throughout it all, he scored runs, took catches, and celebrated wickets more ecstatically than the bowlers themselves, something his wife has openly mocked, much to Virat Kohli’s enjoyment.
How Virat Kohli balances his passion and sensitivity
Virat Kohli has kept virtually all of the fire that made him so contentious early on in his new phase, post-captaincy, post-century drought – another tribute to his humanity – that coincided with the Covid epidemic, but there have also been sobering disclosures. He has spoken about his struggles with mental illness. A man whose behaviors exude hyper-masculinity and who speaks out about the softest, most sensitive aspects of himself. Kohli has been openly doting, kind, and loving in his love and marriage to Anushka Sharma, who is no less a celebrity but from a different galaxy.
Virat Kohli has been a symbol of 21st-century India, but he has also stood up for his team-mate Mohammed Shami when he was attacked for his religion. He defended Shami’s faith as a sacred and personal thing, and called the attackers spineless and pathetic.
Kohli has also brought his passion and aggression to Test cricket, the format he considers the pinnacle. He has improved his red-ball batting to match his white-ball dominance, and has not lost his intensity in the empty stadiums. He has not become a cuddly or diplomatic leader, but he has matured in his own way.
You may be patriotic without becoming a zealot. You may be hyper-masculine while yet seeing your wife as an equal. If they do not appear to be particularly courageous or commendable stances, this is because to Kohli’s social background.
Currently, he’s at 48 centuries, just one behind Tendulkar. Although cricket may be akin to a religion in India, Kohli isn’t striving to be its god. That role is already taken and Kohli never aimed for that status. He’s just a mortal, doing his best to be an outstanding individual. Striving to be the utmost productive, and in terms of cricket, the most assertive player by far.
This is who he has always been, without apology. I’ve always enjoyed just being.
