Why the dream of a Pakistani Kohli is a futile one

On December 18, 2006, an 18-year-old player named Virat Kohli saw his Delhi team reduced to 14-4 against a strong Karnataka side that scored 446 in their Ranji Trophy match. The young right-hander showed determination and grit to take his side to 103-5 at the close of play, ending the day on an unbeaten 40.



Just as he was contemplating a job well done, Kohli’s world came crashing down around him. His 54-year-old father, Prem Kohli, passed away in the night. News of Prem’s death had reached the Delhi dressing room by then. The management asked the next man in, Chetanya Nanda, to pad up and get ready to play in Kohli’s absence. However, Kohli arrived a few minutes later, in full cricketing gear, and insisted on going out there. He scored another 50 runs before he was given caught behind on 90. Kohli returned to the pavilion, only for replays to show the bat had brushed the pads rather than the ball. The 18-year-old, young no more, quietly removed his pads and went to attend his father’s funeral. His innings allowed Delhi to go on and save the match.

“We told him that if he decided to go back and be with his family, the entire team would support him. He decided to play,” Delhi skipper Mithun Manhas would recall later on. Nearly a decade after cremating his father and delivering a match-saving knock on the same day, 27-year-old Kohli has the world at his feet — the darling of an enamoured nation. The journey has not been an easy one, and 1.3 billion expectant eyes have followed him ever since he captained India to the U19 World Cup title two years after his father’s death.



But the poster boy of the IPL generation, Kohli, has all the characteristics to go down as one of the game’s greatest ever. He is a fighter if ever there was one. A split webbing was supposed to rule him out for Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) match against King’s XI Punjab in this year’s IPL. Kohli refused to sit out the match, instead getting the physios to do a patch-up job and came out to bat in the must-win contest.

RCB made 211-3 in a match reduced to 15 overs and skipper Kohli went on to score a century, pointing his bat at the dugout and punching his split webbing — which was still undoubtedly sore from the eight stitches it had needed — in a rallying cry.

He is a skipper who leads by example. His Test average without the captain’s armband is 41.13. As a skipper, who goes up by more than 10 runs to 52.7. The numbers are even more striking in ODIs, where an average of 49.7 goes up to a scarcely believable 70.83 when he is leading the line.

He is driven by a constant urge to improve and an unbending will to be the very best. “I wanted to explore a new side of my body to take me to the next level because I never wanted to be average,” he told reporters at a promotional event in Delhi last month, discussing his newfound focus on fitness. “I wanted to [be] the best in the world. So I always had that mindset but never had the physical ability.”



He recognises and appreciates others within the game. “I would like to congratulate Mohammad Amir for the way he bowled, I actually congratulated him while he was bowling. I was really happy to play such an amazing spell of fast bowling. May God bless him with more success,” Kohli said after guiding India to a win in their Asia Cup match, despite Amir claiming 3-18 in his four overs.

Self-reflecting, born to lead, the ultimate competitor and always up for a challenge, Virat Kohli is a cricketer’s cricketer. In India, he commands unabated adulation and in Pakistan, begrudging respect. Criticised in his earlier years for being too cocky and arrogant, Kohli has matured and become humbler over the years. But the same cannot be said of the promising youngsters who have emerged from Pakistan during the same time.

Umar Akmal and Ahmad Shahzad are prime examples of two precociously talented players who seem determined to frustrate more than deliver in a Pakistan shirt; with Akmal often being compared to Kohli in their early years.They may have had similarly promising beginnings but Akmal and Kohli now stand miles apart. And while Kohli needs to be lauded for his progression — and Akmal derided for his regression — external factors have also played their part.

The IPL, with its huge crowds and international stars, has helped Indian cricketers mature beyond their years as they learn to cope with game and crowd pressures at an early age. Kohli is no different; thriving in the big-game situations that the IPL constantly throws at him and his compatriots.

Before the advent of the Pakistan Super League, which has had just one season so far and cannot be compared to the beast that is the IPL, Pakistani youngsters were thrown directly into the deep end of the pool when they first experienced international cricket. Under such intense limelight, many a promising players wilted.

The handling of youngsters by the Pakistan Cricket Board has also left a lot to be desired; with captains and coaches being judged on short-term success, leading to them axing youngsters from the team rather than giving them the confidence they need to get over inevitable early hiccups.



This cut-throat culture is so prevalent across the board that U19 tournaments see teams select players in their early 20s. This not only sidelines truly young players but also means older ones who play with U19 kids are suddenly faced with a huge gulf in class if and when they are introduced into the first team. Nor can any Pakistani captain claim to have the nous to match the way India skipper MS Dhoni handled Kohli in his formative years. The 27-year-old – ranked second in the world in ODIs and first in T20Is – is a truly once-in-a-generation talent.

But even then, there is no guaranteeing he would have had similarly stellar success had he been born on this side of the border. A lot needs to change in Pakistan’s cricketing structure if they are to ever boast a batsman to rival Kohli.

Until then, cricket fans in Pakistan are reduced to casting longing sideways glances at the man who, all those years ago, “decided to play”.