#HappyBirthdayKohli: The cricketer you know, the man you don't
This article does not talk about Virat Kohli's records or the great player that he is, but rather the man within. Kohli is many things - the leader (perhaps) Indian cricket team doesn't need, the greatest player whose best is still yet to come and a husband/boyfriend every girl dreams about. On field he is terrifying, off field his gestures are terrific. Oh Kohli, you flawed charmer, happy 30th!
He is flamboyant and modest, all at once
If you look deep, you'd find two Kohlis living and fighting for space inside one body. Can you imagine the suffocation? One is that flamboyant, stylish Delhi guy who is loud, who craves for adulation; the other one is the Mumbai man who understands his responsibility, he unwittingly knows he carries the dreams of a billion Indians on his shoulders (bat?). And, he doesn't complain. Ironically, the macho man almost looks lost when surrounded by tens of thousands of fans.
The man who wears his heart on his blue-colored sleeves
He could be two different personas - on field and off field, but his passion remains remarkably same. When not sweating on field, he channelizes all his energy on his wife, Anushka Sharma. The way he looks at her, he makes us believe that soulmates exist. The way he stands by her, he makes us want more, and the way he credits her for all his victories, he tells us what a true feminist means.
He personifies 'Karm kar, par phal ki chinta bhi kar'
Dramatic as it sounds, if you open him, you will find 'victory' written on his tattooed body. From eating right, exercising like a maniac to being so obsessive about every match he plays, he gives it all. By his own admission, for him it is always about that one extra run, that one microsecond he saves while fielding, that one more try! His mantra is 'Karm kar, par phal ki chinta bhi kar.'
He is like all of us, doesn't care about grace
He is like all of us - a loud winner and a sore loser. He uses the choicest abuses when angry. Grace is not what he exudes, well at least not on field. He is also that Scorpion who always takes his revenge - you wrong the man once, he will make sure he gives it back to you, sometimes using his bat, at other times using his finger.
You may call him arrogant, I think he is self-aware
He is not a talented player, wasn't born a prodigy and he is acutely aware of it. He works hard to 'become talented'. He is also not a born leader, makes too many mistakes as the captain. At some cerebral level, he is aware of that too. Any other Virat Kohli would know the things he is best at. But, the deal with this man is he knows exactly where all he is not the best. He is not arrogant, he is self-aware.
Can we call him 'Virat Tendulkar'?
The spark Sachin Tendulkar started in this country, Kohli is taking it further with much more bravado. He is not trying to fill Sachin's shoes, he has repaired them and wears them everyday, like a badge of honor. In fact, we should start calling him Virat Tendulkar, already.
