During the innings break in the game between KKR and Punjab Kings, the host broadcaster showed a small clip of Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli speaking to each other at the Wankhede Stadium. It was a brief 30-second visual, but extremely pertinent. Two of Indian cricket’s all-time greats catching up and greeting each other with respect and affection. That’s what sport is all about. Respect and values. Not the over-aggression that we have seen on a few occasions this IPL. Nor the verbals hurled on the field from time to time. It is the respect that you have for each other that defines you in the end.
The relationship that Tendulkar and Kohli share with each other is best summed up by the following incident, which Tendulkar had narrated to me. “As I reached the dressing room post the presentation and post my retirement speech and was sitting all by myself, Virat walked up to me,” he said. “I could see tears in his eyes and he came up to me to give me something very special. He said his dad had given him this (a family heirloom for good luck), and he always wondered who he would give this to. It had to be someone very special, and he thought me worthy of it. He handed it to me before touching my feet as my younger brother.
“I was speechless. I held him tight and said: ‘Arre, tu yeh kya kar raha hain? Tujhe yahan nahi, yahan hona chahiye (What are you doing touching my feet? You should be giving me a hug)’. Thereafter, I couldn’t say a word, for I felt choked with emotion. A lump had started to form in my throat, and I asked Virat to leave knowing I would burst into tears if I tried to speak more. This was a gesture I can never forget, and I wished Virat all the success in his career.”
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Kohli, for his part, holds Tendulkar in the highest esteem. From bowing to him after his fifty against Pakistan in the high-voltage World T20 game in Kolkata in March 2016, to always giving the legend his due, Kohli is all humility when asked about Sachin. “It is unfair on him, you know,” he said to me during one of our interactions. “He has served Indian cricket for 24 years, and has played some incredible innings for the country. To play for such a long time itself is special. It is not fair on him to be compared to anyone. When we were growing up, Sachin would just play some shots which left us all in awe. He could just stand and hit the fast bowlers for six straight over the sightscreen. None of us had seen such stroke play, and I used to try and emulate his actions at home.”
Sir Donald Bradman had once said to Jessie, his wife, about Tendulkar: “I have not seen myself play, but seeing this boy play, I feel he is the closest to how I played the game.” I once asked Tendulkar if his impression of Kohli was similar. In other words, did he ever tell Anjali that here was one cricketer who played very much like he had?
Sachin, always measured and composed, had this to say. “No, I did not tell Anjali this, but I can tell you that Virat has great peripheral vision when he is batting. He can read the game very well, try and make sense of what can happen five or six overs later, and plan accordingly. He has a very solid core, and that’s what makes him the player that he is. He is willing to work really hard on his game and always relishes a challenge, traits that make him a very good cricketer.”
Clearly, at one level, the two legends do come together. Both supremely confident athletes, they have tremendous faith in their ability to work the hardest, and take responsibility for both their successes and failures. And in doing so, they have enriched the sport we all love.
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