When Virat Kohli Gave The Threads Given By His Father To 'Special Person' Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli are two of the greatest Indian batsmen of all time. While Tendulkar enthralled and bewitched the cricketing world for a quarter of a century before retiring from the sport in 2013, Kohli has taken the master’s legacy forward and is seen by the cricketing world as Tendulkar’s heir apparent.
And, both these two legendary batsmen have mutual admiration for one another. While Tendulkar went on to say that Kohli has the potential to break his Himalayan records in a function organized to celebrate his historic hundredth hundred, Kohli has, time and again, told how Tendulkar is always ‘two levels above any other cricketer’.
In fact, Kohli grew up watching Tendulkar bat on television and wanted to emulate his resplendent deeds with the bat.
While the cricketing world knows about the mutual respect between the two, here is a rare incident of Kohli giving away the sacred threads giving by his father to Tendulkar on the occasion of the latter’s farewell Test, an incident many might not know of.
Tendulkar mentioned this in his autobiography ‘Playing It My Way’:
“As I was sitting by myself back in the dressing room, Virat walked up to me again. I could see tears in his eyes. He held out his hands and said his dad had given him these threads, the kind that Indians wear around their wrists for good luck, and he had always wondered who he would give it to.
It had to be someone very special. Then he handed them to me before touching my feet as my younger brother. I was speechless. I held him tight and said “Arre, tu kya kar raha hain? Tujhe yahan nahi, yahan hona chahiye” (What are you doing touching my feet? You should be giving me a hug).
I couldn’t say another word because I felt choked with emotion. A lump had formed in my throat and finally, I had to ask Virat to leave, knowing I would burst into tears if I tried to say anything else. It was a gesture I can never forget and I wished Virat all the success in his career.”
The bond that Kohli and Tendulkar share has been extremely special and, when Kohli goes on break many of Tendulkar’s records in the future, the first person to be happy will be Tendulkar himself.