Virat Kohli
The Times of India
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
Profile
Dec 28 2014
CAPTAIN COOLER
AVIJIT GHOSH
His batting and captaincy are on fire, yet he is chilled enough to blow his girlfriend a kiss from the pitch and spell his fashion label Wrogn. Both on the field and off, Virat Kohli's got game, and that's why he scores It first happened in 1960, before a packed Brabourne Stadium in Bombay. Abbas Ali Baig had just reached a Test half-century against Australia when an audacious Ms Bhatt ran to the pitch and rewarded the dapper batsman with a kiss before gasping spectators. Since that cheeky act, cricketers in India have often been objects of PDA. But last month, when the Kiss of Love protests rocked the nation, Virat Kohli added a new dimension to this rolling playbook of love. The Delhi batsman sent a flying kiss off his bat to actor-girlfriend Anushka Sharma sitting in the VIP gallery during an ODI match against Sri Lanka at Hyderabad. No Indian cricketer had so openly demonstrated his ardour before though Pataudi, Ravi Shastri and Mohammad Azharuddin all had famous girlfriends. But the 26-year-old cricketer wasn't just breaking norms; in the same innings, he reached 6,000 runs in just 136 ODI innings, a new world record.
The Times of India
The gesture underlined two traits. One, a willing ness to change and evolve.
Not long ago, the Delhi batter could only express elation with crude references to mothers and sisters. Second, he seemed to be a firm believer in what Frank Sinatra sang an era ago, “I did it my way.“
In a sense, Kohli encapsulates the best and brightest of a generation bred in post-liberalization India: tattooed and teeming with attitude but setting and achieving the highest of benchmarks.
On the last day of the Adelaide Test, when Australia set India a target of 363, that's exactly what was on display. Most captains would have plumped for a draw.But Kohli, a stand-in skipper, aimed for Mission Impossible. Revelling under pressure, he led the way with an assault that had India agog. His career-best 141 took his cumulative runs in the match to 256, eclipsing the previous highest by a Test captain on debut: Kiwi Graham Dowling's 244 against India in 1967-68. The Delhi batter had smashed 115 in the first innings after being struck on the helmet by paceman Mitchell Johnson. India lost. But as the dominant tweeple sentiment suggested, it was more satisfying than a draw. “A draw was never an option,“ he said later.
It was widely believed that Kohli was born to lead, and Adelaide showed his time has come. 2015 could well witness the end of the Dhoni regime and mark the beginning of the Kohli era.
On Twitter, he is already India's sportsman No 1. With 4.92 million followers, he has crossed Sachin's 4.88. Kohli seems to have a natural aptitude for social media, often mixing business with pleasure: wishing happy birthday to friend and brother Gabbar (Shikhar Dhawan), plugging RCB boss Sid Mallya's asinine video or promoting Wrogn, his breakaway youth fashion brand irreverently spelt wrongly . His Facebook page has a staggering 19.1 million likes.
Which is why in its annual list for 2014, London-based magazine SportsPro called Kohli the second most marketable sportsperson in the world.
He is already enjoying the perks of being a star player and his ads often trade on his bad boy cool quotient. He is the rakish Lothario with love marks on his neck (Fastrack), the dude asking for a girl's phone number (Celkon mobile) or just the guy who eyes the girl at the gym (Axe).
For Kohli, the reel and real have almost coalesced. Two English women cricketers have been hitting on him via Twitter and in 2012, in Hobart, Tasmania, a female fan put up a poster saying, “Offer still stands Kohli, my place tonight.“ He confessed later on TV , `'I didn't take up the offer“.
Since his international debut in 2008, what has separated Kohli from the rest is his ability to win matches almost singlehandedly in ODIs and T20s. His approach is goal-oriented. For him, batting is about getting your country beyond the line, preferably without any last-over heroics. He is yet to master the moving ball but his wristwork, arguably the finest in India since VVS, has been key to his 13 tons in winning chases; second only to Tendulkar's 14. That he has excelled in all three formats underlines his ability to adapt.Over the years, almost everyone in world cricket has endorsed him. But the finest validation came from Sir Vivian Richards, who said, “I love his aggression and se rious passion. He re minds me of myself.“
At 17, Kohli came out to bat in a Ranji game against Karna taka the day after his father passed away . He took his team to safety with a 90 before attend ing the funeral. He has said, “If you are dedicated to something, nothing should distract you. Whenever I get stuck in a bad situation, I still think of that day, my most difficult moment, to get out of it.“
Virat Kohli has been rightly ordained as the future of Indian cricket. And the future is now.
Controversies
TALKING UGLY
The Times of India Mar 04 2015
VIRAT KOHLI'S diatribe against a media person in Perth on Tuesday wasn't the first time the cricketer has let his anger get the better of him. TOI looks back at past such incidents involving the Delhi batsman...
IT'S KOHLI VS GAMBHIR (APRIL, 2013)
A verbal duel between KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir and Kohli (in pic) during their IPL clash took fans by surprise. As Gambhir and other players walked towards the cover region to celebrate the RCB skipper's dismissal, Kohli, instead of walking back to the pavilion, charged towards Gambhir and made a remark after which all hell broke loose.
ALTERCATION WITH PHOTOGRAPHERS (OCT, 2009)
Kohli got involved in a spat with photographers at Jamtha (Nagpur) just before the start of India's ODI against Australia. As he was training, one of his shots almost hit a camera belonging to a photographer who, along with other cameramen, was sitting behind the advertisement hoardings.Kohli paid little heed to their request to train somewhere else, leading to a verbal free-for-all.
THE INFAMOUS MIDDLE FINGER (JAN, 2012)
Angry at an abusive group of spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Kohli stuck out his middle finger at the hecklers on the second day of the India-Australia Test. Kohli later defended himself on Twitter, saying, “I agree cricketers don't have to retaliate. What when the crowd says the worst things about your mother and sister? the worst I've heard (sic).“
YELLING AT WANKHEDE (APRIL, 2013)
In a tense IPL game against hosts Mumbai Indians, Kohli lost his cool after being targetted by a section of the crowd and retaliated by giving it back. Speaking after the game which his team lost, the RCB captain rued that the spectators had forgotten that he also represented their country.“It feels a bit weird because at the end of the day you play for India and you don't come here to be hated.“
Contribution in ODI
[ From the archives of the Times of India]
Avijit Ghosh TNN
BETTER THAN THE BEST
Virat Kohli has scored more runs than Brian Lara, Dean Jones, Ricky Ponting, Michael Bevan, M S Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Viv Richards after same number of games (85 ODIs)
At this stage, Kohli has scored 11 centuries. Nobody even comes close; Lara (5) and Ponting (5) being next Among them, his strike rate of 86.31 is third only to Dhoni’s 96.26 and Richards’s 86.99. And his average (50.56) is second only to Bevan’s 56.54 WONDER BOY Virat always looks in control of the situation NewDelhi: Statistics suggest that Virat Kohli is the best ODI batsman in the world now. It isn’t just the runs he has scored so far; it is also the manner and situation in which he has fetched them. Out of his 11 centuries, 10 have come in winning causes; seven of them in a run chase. Thanks to him, run chases are no longer nervous affairs for India. And he seems to shun last-over heroics; Kohli prefers to finish early and in style. Only one thing jars: that his celebration seems incomplete without reference to mothers and sisters. Once set, Kohli seems to always be in control. He seems to bring his leadership skills even to batting. His strokeplay is cultured; slogs are rare. There’s plenty of wristwork on display and power too. Kohli prefers to play along the ground but is not averse to the lofted stroke. And he plays the pull with poise. On Sunday, he was the only Indian batsman who read Saeed Ajmal. Barring one delivery that was edged for four, he had an answer to every doosra or teesra that the Pakistan spinner offered.
Before the Australia tour, most experts had put their money on Rohit Sharma as the one more likely to succeed. Kohli proved them wrong, being the faster adapter and quicker learner. Ever since he made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in August 2008, Kohli has grown and evolved beyond recognition. As an 18-year-old, Kohli came to bat for Delhi on the day his father passed away because his team needed him. He scored 90 and steered his team to safety against Karnataka before he fell to a poor umpiring decision. Even at that age, Kohli stood out for his amazing commitment and rare temperament.
Kohli is many things to many people. For the cricket fan, he is a future India captain. For media managers, he is that special face that can sell a million hair gels and mobile phones. For teenage girls, he is the pin-up of their dreams. Kohli is reaching for the stars and corporates for the cheque book.
2015
The Times of India, May 9, 2015
He is the current superstar of India cricket. Dubbed as the `chase master' in ODIs, 12 of his 22 centuries have been in a winning cause and all this aged just 26. Kohli has been elevated to Test captaincy as well this year and will be expected to lead Team India into the next era.Loud and brash, he is never ready to take a step backwards but lets his willow do the talking most of the time.Adding to his ODI achievements, Kohli also has 10 centuries in just 33 Tests.
2016
Highlights
Kohli hit three centuries and four half-centuries in the calendar year.
Kohli amassed 739 runs from just 10 ODIs played this year.
ANDERSON'S SOUR DIG AT KOHLI
Pacer James Anderson chose to play down Virat Kohli's double ton in Mumbai by saying that the Indian skipper's technical deficiencies, which England had exposed during the 2014 series back home, were not at display here on India pitches, which lacked movement and bounce.Though Kohli ignored the jibe by choosing not to play `sarcastic mind games', Anderson got a mouthful from spinner R Ashwin, who gave him a valuable pep talk on the importance of `accepting defeat'.
First batman to have 50 plus in all 3 formats
Earnings
World's third-most marketable player, 2016
The Times of India, May 27, 2016
Virat Kohli is ahead of the likes of Lionel Messi and Neymar in the latest list of the world's most marketable sportspersons.
In a survey published by SportsPro media, Kohli is behind the NBA's `Most Valuable Player' Stephen Curry and Juventus' French international Paul Pogba.
World No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic is 23rd on the list, followed by Messi at 27th and Usain Bolt at 31.
The only other Indian in the top 50 is tennis star Sania Mirza, at No. 43.
Athletes from across the world have been ranked according to their marketing potential over a three-year period.
The criteria included six parameters: value for money, age, home market potential, charisma, willingness to be marketed, crossover appeal
