Bold Kohli thrives on Australia’s love- hate
Skipper embodies the new India
“YOU guys hate me. And I like that.’’ So said a swaggering Virat Kohli during his 2014- 15 Australian Tour de Force. But he was only half right.
Yes, he liked being disliked, but the hatred wasn’t pure.
It was the special cocktail of irritation, offence and wellconcealed respect Australians show towards a touring cricketer bold enough to play the way Australians do.
Unyielding English fast man John Snow felt it in the 1970s. So did Ian Botham, Kevin Pietersen and Richard Hadlee in their distinguished journeys Down Under.
How dare you look Australia in the eye and try to stare them down?
This is one reason Australia should cherish the sight of Kohli in the one Test he will play on this season’s Australian tour in Adelaide before heading home to India for the birth of his first child. Because cricketers of his ilk are so rare.
India has been searching for 50 years for a player brave enough to say — and believe — the eight words uttered by Kohli in the first paragraph.
Australia became accustomed to Indian tourists arriving on our shores almost expecting to lose.
But India has led the world in a technical revolution and with this seminal shift has come money, power and clout.
And Kohli, the man with fire in his eyes, embodies the new India.
The last time he visited Australia, two years ago, India became the first Asian team to win a series in Australia and Kohli, while restricted to one century and a manageable average of 40, left his mark as a charismatic leader,
The first sign the world was changing came six years earlier in a Sydney Test when Kohli was fielding at the boundary and copped some abuse.
He gave the crowd the finger. It was caught by photographers and he was fined 50 per cent of his match fee.
Australia wasn’t sure if it was seeing a cheeky upstart or a man of steel who simply would not be pushed around.
They got their answer three years later when he scored four centuries in four Tests on a breakthrough Australian tour, explaining how the taunts from fieldsmen fired him up.
“They were calling me a spoilt brat, and I said, ‘ Maybe that’s the way I am. You guys hate me, and I like that,” Kohli said.
“I don’t mind having a chat on the field, and it worked in my favour, I guess.
“I like playing against Australia because it is very hard for them to stay calm and it really excites me and brings the best out of me. So they don’t seem to be learning the lesson.”
Australia tried to put him off his game, but any verbal taunts became smelling salts under his nostrils.
When he walked out to bat, Australian players would say: “It’s all about you. You think you’re the big show.”
But he got off on individual challenges — such as when Mitchell Johnson had a shy at the stumps when Kohli was batting and ended up hitting the batsman.
“I was really annoyed with him hitting me with the ball, and I told him that’s not on. ‘ Try and hit the stumps next time, not my body.’ There’s no good reason that I should respect some people when they are not respecting me.”
Kohli scored 68 runs off 72 balls he faced from Johnson, clearly motivated by the need to make his point.
Though it all a great mutual respect has grown.
In 2016, during a white- ball series in Australia, Kohli explained why he loved playing here.
“I love coming to this country, it has a really positive vibe.
“Most importantly, I can be myself here. I can be normal. I can walk around on the streets.
“That’s something that I really love to do to discover myself rather than staying in a world which is sometimes full of highs and sometimes full of lows.’’
The hero, the villain and all shades in between. Kohli and Australia have seen it all.