When Harsha Bhogle paused for a moment to say that there is always a relationship between a batsman and his audience, I thought it was as evocative a thought and as poignant a moment on Sunday. There are cricketers who score runs. And then there is Virat Kohli, who scores belief. Which is why I want to mention the record he broke in Indore only in passing – he has now gone past Ricky Ponting as the highest run getter at the Number 3 position in One Day Internationals.
It was the 43rd over with Kyle Jamieson bowling. Kohli hit the low full toss staright over long off for a six. The ball came in knee high and it was the cleanest swing of the bat. And the crowd believed that their man could make it happen. It is quite ironic that the audience believes it got ‘paisa vasool’ to watch their hero score a century, even though the nation lost the match, and series.
Somewhere between the first roar that greeted a teenage prodigy in Delhi whites and the thunder that now follows him into every stadium across the world, Kohli forged something rare: not just a career, but a covenant. He forged a thread of bonding with the fans. With Virat, that thread became a heartbeat – loud, urgent, relentless. Every cover drive was applause returned. Every fist pump, a conversation. Every glare, a promise that he would not yield quietly.
He is self-made in the truest, hardest sense. No inherited calm, no velvet beginnings, no gentle grooming. Just hunger sharpened by loss, ambition powered by discipline, and a refusal to be ordinary. Kohli did not wait for Indian cricket to change; he dragged it forward – into gyms before nets, into diets before indulgence, into preparation before reputation. Fitness became his rebellion. Discipline his identity. Excellence his only acceptable language.
He was on the boundary when Daryl Mitchell walked off after playng an innings that got him the Man of the Match award. Kohli playfully pushed him off the ground saying its about time. Now its my turn to bat! And that kind of sums up the eternal hunger that the man symobolises. Hunger to run that single. Hunger to convert the single to two. And hunger every time a wicket falls to punch his fist in the air and live every moment. If there is one thing I will miss when he calls it a day is the always on, always ready attitude.
He plays like a man who knows the crowd is not watching the scoreboard; they are watching his soul. He allows emotion to breathe where others hide it. Anger, joy, defiance, pride – worn not as theatrics but as truth. In an era that often mistakes polish for greatness, Kohli reminded sport that authenticity still wins hearts. He has courted controversy because he has never courted comfort. He has chosen fire over approval, intensity over diplomacy, honesty over ease.
And that is why his fans do not merely admire him – they idolise him as the man who made it happen fighting all odds. The talent was always prodigious but he had to fight the odds all along. They feel his failures like personal wounds and celebrate his hundreds like collective redemption. When he walks out, India stands a little straighter. When he chases, hope runs with him. When he roars, a billion find their voice.
Virat Kohli is not the product of a system. He is the outcome of will. A cricketer who turned discipline into destiny. An athlete who made fitness fashionable. A leader who made passion respectable. A batsman who made belief contagious.
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