Young blood Virat Kholi Proved Again
Virat Kohli came across as a brash kid in love with himself. It seemed like he had started to swagger even as he learned to walk. Critics wondered whether he had the special natural talent to justify that arrogance; others felt his attitude did not matter as long as he scored runs on the field.
In the 20th century, India liked its sporting stars to be humble. On the other hand, the current generation likes its stars to be in tune with the zeitgeist – extremely confident, outspoken and devoid of self doubt. Kohli, one felt, would present an interesting case study to see how a modern Indian celebrity behaves.
The brash stereotype, however, is already being deconstructed and that too, by Kohli himself. He scored yet another assured ton today, didn’t celebrate much after reaching the landmark (“We were cruising that time”), walked into the press conference and, fascinatingly, sought to present a new version of himself.
Asked about the perception of his troublesome attitude, he first politely noted that everybody was entitled to their opinions and that he could not go around trying to censor people. However, when someone brought it up a second time, Kohli suddenly opened up.
“What people were talking about my attitude during fist IPL was right to a certain extent. I have accepted the criticism and tried to take it in the right spirit. There are two ways to deal with it; either you ignore it and keep continuing in the same way doing the same mistakes or you can accept the criticism and rectify it. And I took the second approach.”
Silence in the press room. Many people didn’t expect such a revelation. You thought Kohli would have just brushed aside the criticisms and moved on as it would have fit with the stereotype. It’s not as if he had said something dramatic; it’s just that even this small step of acknowledging that he might have been wrong in the past was not expected.
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