Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
The World Cup is turning into a celebration of King Kohli
Kohli’s footprint on Indian cricket runs deep, and is not limited to the mountain of runs he has scored
Kohli has been king for a while but this World Cup we are witnessing his official crowning and a frenzied celebration of his wonderful career.
Each time he steps on the field, the crowd comes alive, his every run is being cheered and the 3 balls he bowled (right-arm something!) triggered a social media storm. India is 5/5 in the tournament, looking unbeatable, but the interesting thread running through the World Cup is King Kohli’s unrelenting quest for excellence.
For years, we heard the Sachin-Sachin chant at cricket stadiums, a tribute to the affection of fans for the great man. Sachin bossed the game for 24 years and retired 10 years ago but remains a loved legend - respected and revered by devoted fans.
But lately, the loudest cheers are for King Kohli who has captured the imagination of cricket lovers like Sachin and MSD did earlier. People buy tickets to watch him play and those watching at home hope/ pray he makes runs. Kohli today officially rules the world of cricket, he is the sun around whom the sport spins. It was his vast fandom ( in excess of 300 million social media followers) that convinced LA Olympics to admit cricket after a hundred years break.
Royal status sits well on Kohli, he deserves the privilege and his eminence is well earned, not a random favour granted by adoring fans. His bat speaks for him and his astonishing numbers support his status as a modern master who aced all three formats. Having clocked 15 years in international cricket he has logged 26,000 runs and 78 hundreds, second only to SRT. No contemporary cricketer is anywhere close to Kohli and if all top batsmen were running a cricket marathon, Kohli would win by a mile.
But runs logged in the scorebook only reveal half the story - Kohli’s foootprint on Indian cricket runs deep, and is not limited to the mountain of runs he has scored. Captains before him have shaped the team by their vision, in days past Tiger Pataudi and Sunny Gavaskar advanced Indian cricket. More recently, Sourav used his authority to create a competitive team hungry to win overseas. After him, Dhoni was a powerful yet benign autocrat who nobody dared ness with.
Captain Virat was Imran like in the sense he transformed Indian cricket, changed its DNA, yanked it into the modern world by focussing on fitness and fielding. With him, processes were sacred, as were team goals, and anyone unwilling or unable to comply was put on ice .
Virat’s writ ran because he walked the talk - pushing himself hard, setting an example and not showing mercy to those not aligned. Waqar Younis made a pertinent observation, looking at a video of Virat working out in the gym. 'Kya banda! (What a guy!)', he said, in admiration. He inspires everyone to work hard and become better. He changed the mindset of the entire nation. Fans love his ‘play to win’ attitude and Virat represents the new aspirational and aggressive India.
Strangely, Virat’s popularity has surged since he lost/gave up the captaincy and went from King to commoner in the Indian team. The status downgrade must have been traumatic but it earned him sympathy from fans who thought he’d been dismissed off a no-ball. Around this time Virat’s batting form slumped and he suffered a three-year century drought.
The sudden adversity changed Virat. Liberated from official responsibilities and its accompanying corrosive stress, we saw a new Virat who was vulnerable and non-cocky, a far cry from the snarling, abusive earlier version, someone at piece with the world. Still competitive and passionate but no more angry send offs to dismissed batsmen, no violent celebrations of reaching the inevitable hundred in a close chase.
Instead, he laughed and smiled, and his image changeover is similar to Raju becoming a gentleman and Salman Khan discarding the bhai act. Fans love to see Virat dance to bhangra beats, engage with the crowd, sign autographs for fans, shake hands with ball boys, carry drinks for players when not playing, share batting tips with youngsters from opposing teams. And gift a signed jersey to Babar Azam.
Kohli’s popularity has peaked this World Cup for two reasons. One: general awareness about his stature and respect for his contribution . The chase master has won matches for India, even from impossible situations as in the Pakistan game last year when 28 was required from the last 8 balls. Think Kohli, and the image that springs up is of him smashing Haris Rauf for a straight 6 off the back foot.
The other is sentimental. Kohli is in that phase of his career when he has gone from player to elder statesman, from Virat to Virat bhaiya in the team. Given his track record he deserves the admiration, love and respect that he gets.
When India won a World Cup at home in 2011 it became a farewell gift of Team India to SRT. If Rohit Sharma can emulate Kapil and MSD to once again win at home it will be a great achievement, and an appropriate gift to Kohli the King. Virat is not abdicating for another 5 but a World Cup trophy would be the high point of his glorious reign!
