'We were all numb. His father's last rites hadn't been performed': Delhi batter recalls emotional stand with Virat Kohli
Kohli ended up scoring 90 off 238 balls while Punit amassed 156 off 283 as the pair stitched a phenomenal 152-run stand.
Come March 4, former India captain Virat Kohli will be playing his 100th Test for India. Only 11 cricketers have achieved the proud milestone for the nation as Kohli looks to join some of of the legends of the game like Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar. And ahead of the historic Test for India, 35-year-old Punit Bisht, a former Ranji Trophy teammate of Kohli's walked down memory lane to that wintry morning of 2006 which remains the 33-year-old's toughest day in his career.
It was the third day of Delhi's Ranji Trophy game against Karnataka. Punit, then 19-year-old, had walked in to the dressing room with the thought of adding to his overnight stand hoping to revive Delhi after a poor start in the first innings. But there was a deafening silence in that room. His teammate, then a 17-year-old boy, sat in the corner, eyes all welled up. Kohli had lost his father, who suffered a brain stroke just a couple hours back.
"To this day I wonder, how in the world did he muster the courage to drop in at the ground. We were all numb at his tragedy and here the boy was standing in the dressing room and ready to go out and bat," recalled Punit during an interview with PTI, who was Delhi's wicketkeeper-batsman, but now plays for Meghalaya.
"Mind it, his father's last rites hadn't been performed and he had just come because he didn't want his team to lose a batter as we were not in a great position," he added.
Punit also recalled how then Delhi captain Mithun Manhas and coach Chetan Chauhan had told Virat to go home.
"Chetan sir, if memory doesn't serve me wrong, was our coach that season. Both Chetan sir and Mithun bhai told Virat to go home as they were not sure whether it would be a prudent idea to let the kid go out there in a tense situation and how he would mentally cope up.
"Trust me, no one in the team even had a second thought that he should go back and be with his family and take his own time to grieve. But this is Virat Kohli we are talking about. He was made of different stuff," he said.
Kohli ended up scoring 90 off 238 balls while Punit amassed 156 off 283 as the pair stitched a phenomenal 152-run stand. And although, Delhi failed to take a first-innings lead, the match had eventually ended as a draw.
"Virat was in a zone during those hours. I think for those few hours, he had stopped reacting to grief and showed grit like never before. He played some lovely flicks and his signature cover drive. We had very little conversation. He would just come and say, 'lamba khelna hai, out nahi hona hai'."
"I didn't even know what to say. Often in my heart, a feeling would crop up that let me just put my hand on his head, say a few words of comfort. My head said that no, we have a job to do and let's focus on that. I think he got a debatable decision and missed out on a hundred," Punit said.