In the build-up to the T20 World Cup in June, there have been several question marks over former India skipper Virat Kohli’s future in India’s T20 scheme of things, and his relevance in the format.
Many believed that the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) could be a make-or-break chance for the Delhi batter, hoping to grab that ‘ultimate prize’ in the US and the West Indies.
While there is no denying that he is a T20 giant, and certainly one of the most consistent in India’s victories, the 35-year-old on Monday showed he’s still got all the shots and silenced his critics with a blistering 77 off 49 balls, laced with 11 boundaries and a couple of sixes to help the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to their maiden triumph of the season —by four wickets against Punjab Kings in front of a packed Chinnaswamy crowd in Bengaluru.
Analysing his performance on return to action after a two-month paternity break, Kohli, who was named the Player of the Match, also hit back at former India coach Ravi Shastri and his recent comments on the ex-RCB captain’s inclusion in the T20 World Cup squad.
“I know my name is now attached to just promoting the game in different parts of the world when it comes to T20 cricket. I’ve still got it I guess,” said Kohli.
Kohli’s comments could be seen as a reaction to the conversation between former English skipper Kevin Pietersen and Shastri while commentating in another IPL match on Sunday, Pietersen said that the T20 World Cup in the USA needs someone like Kohli to help the game grow as a global sport.
“The World Cup is happening in the USA. India are playing Pakistan in New York. You’d want someone like a Virat Kohli to help the game grow,” Pietersen said. In response, Shastri opined that it’s about winning the competition, not growth and India should go into the World Cup with a young side, citing the example of the 2007 edition.
“It’s not about growing the game, it’s about winning the competition. The game will grow wherever it needs to grow. What I’m trying to say is no baggage. And India won the 2007 T20 World Cup with a young side. You want youth. You want flamboyance. You want that dash,” Shastri said.
Kohli also opened up about the two months he was away from the game to be with his family and what it meant for him to be just another person on the road.
“We were not in the country, we were at a place where people were not recognizing us. Just to feel normal for two months, for me, for us as a family, was a surreal experience,” said Kohli, who recently became a father again to a baby boy.
“Having two kids, things become totally different from a family perspective. So just the ability to be together, the connections that you make with your older child, it’s amazing. I mean, I couldn’t have been more grateful to God for the opportunity that I got to spend time with my family and, yeah, just the place that we were in,” he added.
Back to normal life, Kohli shared how he felt after spending two quiet months with his family.
“When we came back, the voices back home felt that much louder, I couldn’t look up because I was just not used to being called my name for two months and then immediately you hear these loud noises and then you’re back in it all again. But it was beautiful.
“It’s an amazing experience to just be another person on the road and not be recognized and just carry on about life that normally people would on a daily basis,” an emotional Kohli said.