A small step for Virat Kohli, a giant leap for Indian cricket fans
It was January 2012, and Virat Kohli was trying to figure out if belonged at this level. He had failed in Melbourne and Sydney and India were already down 0-2 in the series going to Perth.
Virat, by his own admission in an interview with me a month later, was asking himself the question if he was good enough. In Perth, he found his first set of answers. A defiant 75 at the WACA and it was evident to him that he had the potential to navigate the rigours of world cricket. Adelaide added to the foundation and that first hundred was indeed the first of many.
The Virat Kohli story is one of rediscovery. While he failed at the MCG and in Sydney, he managed to rediscover himself in Perth. Thereafter, he failed yet again in England in 2014. 134 runs in 10 innings and clearly Virat looked out of sorts against the guile of James Anderson. Huge amount of hard work and a week with Sachin Tendulkar and we had seen a new Virat emerge in Australia just 6 months later. He has yet again rediscovered himself and this time round as both batter and captain.
Let me take my readers back to a conversation with Virat sometime after India had lost the World Cup semi-final to New Zealand in Manchester in July 2019. He had been dismissed for one to an incoming Trent Boult delivery, a ball that television replays showed was clipping the top of the stump. The decision could have gone either way and it was unfortunate for Virat and for India that the umpires dreaded finger had gone up.
“Honestly when we went to the World Cup I had this very strong feeling in my heart that the team would need me in some game and it would be a chase and I swear I had this feeling so strong that I am going to come not out at the end of the game and take India through that rough phase. And I really felt strong that it was the game (semi-final vs New Zealand)," Kohli had told me.
"When I walked out to bat, I knew this is the game but maybe that was my ego talking because how can you predict something like that? You can only have a strong feeling or maybe it was a strong desire of mine. But it did not turn out that way. My dismissal was really disappointing for me. This wasn’t because I hadn’t scored. It was because I had failed to contribute to the team and we had lost a match that we should have won", he had added.
Indian fans will hope for Virat Kohli to end his century drought
This is perhaps the final act of rediscovery in his already illustrious career. To make a difference to India as a batter and help his team win a World Cup or the ICC Test Championship mantle.
On the occasion of his 100th Test match, that’s the one wish as an Indian cricket fan. A wish that Kohli rediscovers his touch and scales heights that will carry Indian cricket ahead and win us many more games. That’s what it is all about. That’s what has made Virat the best in the world. And that’s what his legacy is all about.