Virat Kohli - The Uncharacteristic Hero!

 If you are an ardent cricket fan, having grown up watching, admiring and idolizing the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman & Kumble, all of whom have been the epitome of determination, perseverance, humility and on-field excellence, the farthest you can accept or adjust to certain degree of aggressiveness or high headed-ness is with regards to Mr Ganguly. Anything even marginally over that is considered to be ruffian, unparliamentarily, disgraceful and un-acceptable. At least that’s how our cricketing upbringing has been. No wonder until recently, I haven’t been a Virat Kohli fan, as he has never belonged to the same school.

Ever since he became the regular feature of the national team he has exhibited all that it takes to ruffle a traditional Tendulkar/Dravid/Laxman fan. He has been consistently scoring runs (but that lot of people do) but his mannerisms and conduct have been the real bone of contention for lot of fans. His over the top celebrations after scoring a ton that were typified by a mouthful for someone or the other were truly never shown before by any of the past legends. His knack of getting into arguments and undue tussles with the opposition and even with his own teammates at times, is also very un-Indian. A true blue Indian fan has also never seen the likes of Tendulkar and Dravid focussing on getting inked or a flashing a funky hair style. Nor have we ever seen any of our past greats openly flaunting their girlfriends anywhere and everywhere they go. Perhaps, too much for an Indian fan to associate all these frills with a Legend or Legend to-be J.

But the kind of reception this guy received from the crowds at Melbourne and Sydney every time he stepped into bat or went back after his innings, made me feel nostalgic and a bit jealous too. Nostalgic, as it reminded me of the great Sachin Tendulkar and the kind of effect the legend had on the crowds, irrespective of their nationalities. And jealous as I was always under the impression that such love, adulation and respect is only meant for the great man. So naturally, if someone is so admired and look forward to, he truly is a special lad.

His consistency and statistics do speak volumes about the batting powerhouse that he is. The confidence and swagger with which he bats reminds me of Viv, his consistency and hunger for runs is reminiscent of Sachin and his grit and determination to win matches for his side is akin to what Steve Waugh used to carry in his days. He is easily amongst the very best today alongside AB, Smith, Root & Williamson and if we leave AB aside, as he is hardly human in what he does and Kohli is arguably the most prized wicket for any bowling attack today.

And the way he is going he is sure to break a lot of batting records, he might even surpass Sachin (in all likelihood in ODIs at least). And that probably is winning him more fans (including me) everyday despite his not so pleasant off field exploits. He is so damn good in what he does that he compensates for all that the purists might find unacceptable. In other words, by the sheer weight of his consistent performances, domination and match winning repertoire, he buys for himself the right to celebrate his 100s in the most extravagant way, get under the skin of the opposition even if it is uncalled for and probably get inked and sport a trendy beard too with a lot of panache J. He is a real proponent of the philosophy that as long as you are exceptionally good in whatever you are expected to do, everything else automatically becomes acceptable.

I by no means want to do a comparison between him and our all-time greats, it would be really unfair. But the manner in which the fans have accepted Kohli as their new hero, emphasizes on the fact that the game always need such Heroes to keep itself alive and buzzing. Though no player is bigger than the game but for the game itself to flourish it does need heroes, and none today is more flamboyant, more consistent and a better match winner than Kohli himself. The only hope here is that he continues to be a hero that India has been looking for and not get swayed away by the outside frills and temptations.

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Afterthought – It wasn’t so before, but now I do look forward to see Kohli perform every time he comes out to bat as he certainly looks to be the guy who tries his best to make India win. Though, I have never liked him whenever he dons the RCB jersey, not quite sure of the reason, but I really hope that this disliking as well changes pretty soon J.