Why Virat Kohli is my new 'God'
I can never forget 16th November 2013. That was the day when my childhood officially ended; I watched with tears in my eyes as Sachin Tendulkar poured his heart out to the world in that 20-odd minute farewell speech.
I did not know what was happening, but I felt a sudden emptiness in me as I witnessed the maestro speak. For until then, I had never seen an Indian lineup without Tendulkar’s name in it.
For almost my entire childhood, my deity was Sachin Tendulkar. He was indeed ‘God’, and I often turned to him for solace during the melancholic times in my life.
An exam gone bad; a Tendulkar hundred would offer hope. I even tried to imitate Tendulkar in my inconsequential street cricket matches - the nod of the head, the crouch of the stance and the resplendent follow-through after that jaw-dropping straight drive.
And that is why, on 16th November 2013 it felt like a part of my heart stopped. It was the end of an era - an era where one little curly-haired man armed with divine gifts enthralled and bewitched me in a manner no mortal man could.
I had almost decided that I would stop watching the game after Tendulkar’s departure. But then, as is customary in sport, an heir apparent was anointed. He responded to the name of Virat Kohli.
After Tendulkar’s retirement, Kohli took the cricketing world by storm. The ‘Delhi dasher’ marched on in his own inimitable way. Sri Lanka bore the brunt of a masterly 133* at Hobart, Pakistan gaped helplessly as Kohli pummeled them on his way to a game-changing 183 in the Asia Cup.
His aura kept growing, and slowly people started comparing Kohli to the ultimate divinity called Tendulkar.
The records kept tumbling too: Kohli became the fastest Indian to 25 Test hundreds, and the fastest to 10,000 ODI runs. He marched on like a colossus and for the first time, the comparison made sense.
Slowly, I began to following the exploits of this modern master. And I was awed by his resplendence with the willow.
If Tendulkar ‘s straight drive had me gape at him in utter disbelief, then Kohli’s cover drive had the same splendor to it. If Tendulkar’s back foot punch left me short of words, then the grandeur in Kohli’s whip over mid-wicket left me overawed.
Sport has a habit of throwing up champions in every era; an heir to a vacated throne always crops up. A Maradona departed, a Messi arrived; a Sampras departed, a Federer arrived. And from an Indian context, a Tendulkar departed and a Kohli took his place.
The game of cricket has again ensnared me in its clutches. People who might have vowed to never follow cricket after Sunil Gavaskar’s retirement followed the game with added fervour when they witnessed Tendulkar’s ethereal exploits in the 90s. And now I, like many others, have become glued back to the sport by Kohli’s stunning exploits with the willow.
That is why, no individual sportsman can ever be greater than the game. For like The Brook, the game of cricket silently whispers into our ears: "Men may come and men may go. But I go on forever."
Needless to say, while Tendulkar shall always occupy a special place in my heart, Kohli is the ‘God’ I turn to now for my prayers.
Also see – World Test Championship Schedule