‘His Father’s Body Was At Home But He Went To Play For His State’: The Never-Seen Side Of Virat Kohli!

Charming, dynamic and insanely talented, Virat Kohli today is perhaps today the rockstar of the Indian cricket.

His hook ups are as famous as his hooked shots.

Recalling from shots, his sheer ability to change them at the last moment and the way he does a slog-flick, Kohli is surely a league in his own both inside and outside the cricketing arena.

With his slew of centuries coming up every other day, the handsome young man has been too very consistent in the past couple of years. Moreover, there have been matches that he has won for the team single-handedly.

He is not restricted by any format be it ODI, Test Cricket or T20. His maturity and well-channelized aggression only add to his undisputed performance under even the most difficult situations that have sprouted him and his fans.

For him, the tougher the challenge, the better he gets at replying to it.

Virat is the most consistent top order batsman and has managed to transform himself as the backbone in India’s batting line-up.

His magnificent batting skills have won him recognition, awards, and love from both authorities and fans. And, it got even bigger when our beloved skipper received the Padma Shri from the honorable former President of India, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee.

Virat’s family has also been supportive of his passion for cricket and he started his coaching pretty early under a coach who trusted his potentials.

Virat has exhibited meteoric rise from a young boy learning to pick up his bat.

-Says his former coach.

And his words got attested when under his leadership, India lifted the Under-19 World Cup.

Born to Prem Kohli, a criminal lawyer and Saroj Kohli, a homemaker, Virat was the youngest of his Delhi-based Kohli family.

With his elder sibling Vikas, he joined the West Delhi Cricket Academy under the guidance of Rajkumar Sharma (the aforementioned coach).

Having started his cricketing career at age 9, Virat worked extremely hard to solidify his position in Delhi Under-15 team for Polly Umrigar Trophy in 2002.

In 2003, he was made the captain of the team. Later, he got selected for the Under 17 team followed by the  Under 19 Indian cricket team.

His passion for cricket grew with every passing day and his batting performance kept on moving high with each year passing by.

But his life took one major turn when he lost his father in a tragic accident. As his father was the sole bread-earner of the family, it not only impacted his extended family but also him as his first Ranji match was on the same day.

The young Virat was literally soaked in tears and sad along with being a broke.

He called me to ask whether he should go for the match. He was just 18, then.

-Rajkumar Sharma

His father was a very nice human being. He was also very dear to me. He was a very passionate cricket fan. I was out of India when he called me. He was crying when he told me the news. I asked him what he thinks he should be doing, and his response was ‘I think I should play’. I encouraged him and told him that this is the time to show your character. That was the biggest thing any cricketer could have done – his father’s body was at home but that boy went to play for his state. I couldn’t expect more from him. No one can.

Such was the rockstar’s passion for his game and his sense of duty for the team he was sweating his blood for. This not only established his sense of stand but also increased his value and respect manifold.

Entered 2008 and with more responsibilities on his young shoulders now, Kohli led the Indian team to victory at the 2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia.

Following this, he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore, in the IPL for $30,000. And ever since then, there was no looking back for him.

Kohli was then introduced to the national ODI team for the Sri Lanka tour in 2008. And, the rest is just HISTORY.

In his entire career, Kohli has won the ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2012 and the BCCI’s international cricketer of the year for the 2011–12 and 2014–15.

He received the Arjuna Award in 2013 for his achievements in the international cricket.

He has also led India to the finale of the Champions Trophy 2017 and registered tremendous wins in the late ODIs, making India the #01 team in ODI as of September 2017.

Apart from the brilliant cricketer he is, Virat is also a stud fashionista with brooding beards and those under-shaded hairstyles to die for!

But that’s not all, this sweet eye candy and heartthrob of perhaps every girl out there is one hell of a momma’s boy and a loving boyfriend (of course) to the Indian actress Anushka Sharma.

Virat has also founded a charity-led foundation called ‘Virat Kohli Foundation’ (VKF), in 2013, for helping underprivileged children.

And now after having so many feathers under his belt including the Padma Shri, the young Indian skipper is all set to take his every damn rival heads on.

We congratulate the King of Chases, Virat for all that he has achieved, established and lost. And hope that doesn’t be the next Sachin of Indian cricket or not, might he surely becomes the first “Virat Kohli” and perhaps the last of all!

Image Source: Amazon News, Dainik Bhaskar, Virat Kohli Official Website.