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Kohli’s legacy will not be determined by IPL glory, but winning it would be embellishment

May 22, 2024
Shamik Chakrabarty
Virat Kohli for RCB (Image: IPL)

It would be preposterous to judge Virat Kohli’s legacy on the basis of his IPL trophy count. It stands at zero at the moment, and if Royal Challengers Bengaluru go on to lift the crown this term, that would be the mother of all comebacks. Kohli hasn’t won an IPL title, and he might finish his career without one. But, who cares?

Kohli is a great of the game in his own right and IPL glory would embellish his already decorated career. A few years ago, he had sort of played down the IPL title talk, saying he wasn’t bothered about the outside noise. He has spoken about the outside noise again this season, but in a different context. More on that later.

“Obviously, you want to win the IPL. I am doing what I am supposed to do. I don’t care whether I am going to be judged on this (not winning IPL) or not,” Kohli had said back in 2019, adding: “There’s no real, sort of, parameters you set. I try to perform wherever I can. I try to win all the possible titles, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.”

His comment came on the heels of Gautam Gambhir’s criticism, who called Kohli “very lucky” to be retained as the RCB captain for so long despite not winning the title. Five years down the line, Kohli is no longer the RCB captain, while Gambhir has returned as Kolkata Knight Riders mentor. The two might cross paths in the Qualifier 2 or the final.

In a way, Kohli’s IPL career is pretty similar to that of Harry Kane, his good friend and England football legend. Major silverware at club level has remained elusive for the great striker even after moving to Germany’s best team, Bayern Munich. It just shows one person, however good he might be, doesn’t win a team a trophy. It needs collective effort. Coming back to cricket and the IPL, this is something RCB have missed for the previous 16 seasons.

 

In 2016, Kohli scored a staggering 973 runs in 16 innings at an average of 81.08. RCB still didn’t win the title, falling short in the final by eight runs. This season, he has all but secured the Orange Cap, with 708 runs in 14 innings at an average of 64.36. It needs to be seen if his team can go the distance.

About the outside noise, interestingly, there has been a marked change in Kohli’s batting approach in the second half of the IPL, after Sunil Gavaskar questioned his strike-rate. He was going at around 147, when RCB had lost seven of their first eight games. Kohli has lifted it to around 170, as his team won six on the spin to qualify for the playoffs. Publicly, the former RCB skipper had spoken about ignoring his critics. But obviously, it hurt his ego. Kohli’s changed approach contributed to RCB’s upsurge. It is going to help India at the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Deep down, Kohli probably sees not winning the IPL as unfinished business. He shed a tear after RCB beat Chennai Super Kings at Chinnaswamy Stadium to reach the playoffs. Throughout the final over, he was in Yash Dayal’s ear, asking the bowler to bowl slower deliveries instead of yorkers. It turned out to be astute planning. After the match, he dropped a powerful message.

“God’s got a plan, you just have to be honest about what you are doing, and I think we were pretty honest with our hard work, and we got the rewards,” Kohli said in a video posted by his franchise.

RCB will have to win three more matches to win the IPL. And looking at the bigger picture, if that happens, Kohli might carry forward unstoppable momentum into the T20 World Cup.