One of the most repeated anecdotes about Virat Kohli’s commitment to cricket has been the time he batted for the Delhi Ranji Trophy team against Karnataka despite the demise of his father, Prem Kohli, during the game in 2006. Kohli was batting on 40 overnight when his father passed away due to cardiac arrest. But the 18-year-old Kohli returned the next morning and ended up scoring 90 runs to help prevent Delhi following on.
“I was playing a four-day game at the time and was supposed to resume batting the next day when this (father passed) happened at 230 odd in the morning. We all woke up but had no idea what to do. I literally saw him breathe his last,” . “I called my coach in the morning and told him what had happened and that I wanted to play because leaving a cricket match was not acceptable to me no matter what. I came back from the game for the last rites and promised my brother that I will play for India.”
Now, after Kohli ended his innings in Test cricket, Robin Uthappa, who was playing in that Ranji Trophy game for Karnataka, has spoken up about the experience of watching Kohli play.
“We heard about Virat, we heard about this young kid’s father’s demise. There was some accommodation that we needed to do as far as an extra fielder and all that’s concerned. But then he came on to bat the following day, which was pretty incredible. I remember just kind of speaking to him for about 30 seconds or so, just offering my condolences. He was very, very sweet about it. But when he batted that day, there was something about his eyes and the way he batted… very resolute when he batted, very few emotions, very resolute. Not like the burning fire we see Virat batting with, it was, it was more like an ember, you know what I mean? It was just like steady and controlled and keeping everything in check, something very beautiful, I felt. I sensed that time, about a youngster dealing with the demise of his father, and still turning up to play for his state, something very beautiful about it,” Uthappa said on the KimAppa show on Monday.
He went on to add: “Just the way he went about his innings was phenomenal, more than the cricket, what I remembered was the way he held himself. For me, that was the first time I kind of saw the thirst and perhaps the greatness of , just Virat as a player. But after that, we became fast friends in , and then, you know, we spent a lot of time together.”
