Accepting Virat
Let’s get this out of the way.
If you are above 30 (or close to it), this piece is most likely going to make a lot of sense to you. If you are in your early 20s or below, you are most likely going to point at me at laugh.
Almost four years ago, Siddhartha Vaidyanathan, formerly of Cricinfo, hit the nail on the head with his pensive dirge to a generation of retiring Indian cricket superstars - Losing my Religion. For an entire generation born into Dyanora TV Sets and Gold Spot, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Kumble and Dravid were the 4 cornerstones of a curious love hate relationship with a mostly underperforming Indian team of the 90s.
Siddhartha writes “Our mothers were happy that we had nice heroes – down-to-earth prodigy and studious, brilliant bespectacled engineer. They were honest, industrious sportsmen, embodying the middle class”. Truer words were rarely spoken.
In these 4 years, Dravid and Laxman have joined Ganguly and Kumble out of the game, I got married, moved out of the country and finally realized WWE is not real. Tendulkar meanwhile ploughs on, mocking retirement seeking detractors with b:blunt hairdos, normally seen only on twenty something Bandra locals. But in essence, Indian cricket has moved on. To Virat Kohli.
Sometime in 2008, I was trolling a wonderfully unprivate social network that only Indians and Brazilians apparently used. (Yes, the one with the silly scrapbooks). I chanced upon an exchange between Kohli, then the victorious India U-19 captain, Shikar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma and a bunch of lackeys I can’t place today. The conversation was laced with talks of girls, booze, parties and suchlike. Nubile 17 somethings littered Virat’s page. My mind raced back to 1992.
The Joy Cup was held by the Brijesh Patel Cricket Academy that summer. The juniors and seniors played on adjacent grounds. We got walloped in the final in 23 overs and I made my way down to watch BPCA take on Chemplast. Chemplast was led by the worthy S.Sharath and BPCA by Dravid. Dravid made 67 not out and I saw his whole innings. When he came back, I snuck up behind him and said “Well played”. Rahul Dravid, 18 years old, mind you, sat me down, thanked me profusely and asked me what I did. In a matter of 5 minutes, he advised me to take a leg stump guard and avoid getting bowled off my thigh pad. He suggested at least 50 hours of hanging ball practice a week. You can understand that I’ve been a fan ever since.
Through his entire career, and Laxman’s for that matter, Dravid played with an omnipresent middle-class demeanor, that was precisely the way our generation was raised. You respect your adversaries. Shake hands before and after the contest. If someone whispered too softly and you couldn’t hear , you apologize by default instead of just asking him or her to talk louder.
This elaborate background sums up my reasons for living in denial about Kohli the last few years. I, like many others of my generation, waited for Pujara to make it. We were convinced he was the real deal, because he was, well, our kinda guy. Kohli talks about women and dating on social networks, “flips the bird” at the crowd, has tattoos, wears Ed Hardy tees and reminds me every single day that I belong to a previous generation. Oh Boy, was I waiting for him to fail.
Kohli has let me down immensely. He got thrown into the deep end as an opener when he started his ODI career, and did OK. His “machismo” was challenged in Australia and he didn’t fall apart in the dressing room. He merely lifted his finger (no, not that one) and went to make a 100. He doesn’t make flashy fifties and hole out to deep cover like he is supposed to. He displays a steely resolve and discipline that is most unbecoming of someone of his stereotype.
I recently saw a terrific documentary called “Winning Time” on Reggie Miller, the Indiana pacers legend. Reggie thrived on confrontation. His best games were against the Knicks in Madison Square Garden, where everyone in the 10,000 plus capacity crowd wanted to see him eat dirt. He taunted the Knicks veteran John Starks into complete mental disarray. Spike Lee picked a fight with him from the stands. The press just about stopped short of abusing him. He loved it, the city played into his hands.
The Pacers, hell, all Americans loved Reggie and still do. They love him for being the cock of the walk. When he failed, he didn’t shut up. Nobody wanted him to. Virat is our Reggie. He is a true badass. You can pick a fight with him if you want. He is first going to abuse you, then he’ll bend his left knee, elbows raised, and caress you to the cover boundary. At the end of the day, he will apologize for dragging your family into this. Then he’ll do it again. If you do it again.
Virat Kohli is also the single biggest reason to not give up on Sreesanth and the likes. Sreesanth is not going to be a better bowler if he is less obnoxious. Off field issues and Adonis complexes need to be addressed of course, but on the field, one must realize that the “santh” part of his name is purely for ironic relief.
Siddhartha’s piece ends, somewhat ominously “Tendulkar’s retirement may mean a lot of things to a lot of people, but for a generation of 25- to 30-year-olds it will mark the end of the first part of their lives. Switching on the television the day after will be a serious challenge”
I am happy to say I woke up at 4 am in Puerto Rico to watch Virat Kohli steer India to a nail biting test win. And I can’t wait for the next time.
Image Credits: www.zimbio.com
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Pradeep,
The first post I read today morning and what a wonderful one it was. Contrary to the person I’m – I was a Rahul Dravid fan all my life. Indian cricket was so full of nice guys – that I secretly hoped the next gen to follow would take up some bad-assness ( pardon the word – I know it does not exist but I could not find any other word that would fit the feeling perfectly) from Ganguly. I liked Dada for his I’ll kick you in your face attitude – he was the antithesis to Sachin, Dravid, VVS, Kumble. When Virat came on board, I will be honest – I did not mind his attitude, his abusing, his flipping the bird etc. at all – as long as he got the runs and performed. Like you I’m the 80s kid who grew up watching the Fab 5 – with parents really glad that I looked up to Rahul Dravid – the nice guy; but Virat is the kind of guy I wished the team got as I watched them play in the 90s and 00s.
Over the last 2 years I have spent many hours arguing with friends and justifying my liking and fandom for Virat – every one – every single one of them wanted to see him fail cause they did not like his “attitude”. Indian cricket always had the nice guys – time we got some bad-ass ones like Aussies for a change. I really won’t mind that culture change
Cheers !
Konga – kick ass!
Wah! Kohli is a superstar. such a joy to watch him bat at smallgod.
Gambhir and Kohli represent a new generation, a new ideology in Indian cricket. And this aggression is required in every form of them, considering that Steve Waugh’s (and then Ponting’s) invincibles didn’t reach their test dominance by being gentle giants.
*every form of the game
Congus, the first time I heard about Virat was the day he made 90 to save a Ranji game against Karnataka. Almost everyone knows this now, it was the day his father died. The 17 year old wept through the innings but went on because that is what his father would have wanted. If there is one thing to know about Virat, it is this – forget the swearing, forget the tattoos, the womanizing, the earrings. Anyone that does not take this into cognizance while talking about Virat does not really understand the man.
@Pradeep… Great Article. Like you I too belong in that age group where many hoped Virat wouldnt be the best among the rising stars simply because of his attitute. However, I am yet to reach the stage where Virat would make me wake up at 4AM to watch an Indo-Aus test match
…..Propably when I get over Dravid and Laxman leaving.. But till then…
Can’t tell you how much I wanted Kohli to fail…Good article… and as someone said even I haven’t come to terms to getting up at 4 to watch Kohli bat but then now is not our time… it is time for fb generation to get its idols…
What does it mean? That manners and being a gentleman is a waste of time.Kohli still has to prove his Test credentials abroad,the Australian century notwithstanding
Really good article. This is the first one i have read from you and it is really nice. made up my Friday morning
Amazing writing, Pradeep! You really nailed the subject. I completely agree that where Dravid was flexible to a tee with myriad and diverse folk through his career, the opposite is true of Kohli. It is up to us, the diverse public, to be flexible with Kohli and his generation. He won’t let us down on the field, so long as everybody is focused on his cricket. The only threat to Kohli’s growth I foresee is the BCCI’s regionalisation and politics, expecially when he becomes captain. There, he’ll need imagination and tact; else, he may turn out no different than KP whose candid and straightforward approach I have had the greatest regard for.
Pradeep,
This is the first time am reading your blog and it was a wonderful read. Am 30 and this article just made a lot of sense to me. I grew up watching cricket from the India tour of Aus in 1991-92. I have been a fan of Dravid ever since he made his debut in 1996.
The way Virat is performing in the last 8 to 10 months is absolutely mind
boggling. When he is there in the centre these days am rest assured India is in safe hands and we have nothing to worry. I think he is a combination of aggressive instinct of Sourav and calmness of Dravid when at the crease. In due course am sure he will achieve the greatness of Sachin. Waiting to watch is next magic:).
Pradeep,
Your writing is like fresh breeze. Tired of politically correct Harsha’s (with due respect) of the world. Although i belong to a generation which grew up watching one channel between 6 to 10 PM on B&W EC TV (first solid state TV in india) where there was no way we or cameraman could ‘spot’ the ball in the TV frame or recognized any player, I thoroughly enjoyed the ‘nice men’ of Indian cricket (Sunny, Vishy, Kapil, Mohinder, the only bad ass was chika, who smoked a cig on TV), and even the new ‘nice men’ (the Tendu and company, Dada was bad ass only when it came to kicking aussie butt).
But i must admit, Virats of Indian cricket have been giving me goosebumps for last 2-3 years (for fulfilling my desires of eye for an eye against aussies, and I always prayed he succeeded so that he can have the cricketing authority to be a bad ass. I just hope, the new generation understands the difference between performance+bad ass (Virat) and non-performance+bad ass (Sree).
Prefer the first one any day…it is about time…pl keep on writing…we enjoy it…and yes, even today, I still watch all India matches in Pacific time zone.
This is a super perspective, presented very well. I always have a little trouble placing Kohli in my mind’s eye if I think of the “pantheon” so to speak. But when he comes out to bat, it is a treat all right. Now If Yuvraj can make it back to his old form, we’ll have a pair that will be legendary.