interview with virat kohli
Answers
who was your first coach as a child?
how do u keep calm while chasing big totals?
secret behind your fitness?
Who is your favorite player and captain?
Answer:
Kohli’s team for a sit-down interview with the most in-demand cricketer in the world and after several false leads and probably more than a hundred emails, India’s captain is finally ready and waiting. Well, almost.
As I stand in a corridor outside a hotel room at the Taj Hotel in St James’ Court, London, waiting to be summoned, Kohli has some filming to finish up first. He is the subject of a National Geographic documentary as part of a new series in which scientists and psychoanalysts explore the lives of five Indian national icons and attempt to decipher whether geniuses are born or made. Watching Kohli’s 149 at Edgbaston two weeks later, it feels a pertinent question.
Virat Kohli
Celebrating his first Test century on English soil
Mike Brearley believes genius requires a combination of the “instinctual” with “passionate devotion and hard work” and Kohli’s innings at Edgbaston, his 22nd Test century three months before his 30th birthday, was a perfect marriage of the two.
With Kohli now having completed 10 years as an international cricketer, there is little doubt that we are watching a genius at work, and one who transcends his sport. He was recently ranked No.11 in the World Fame 100, ESPN’s annual list of the most eminent athletes, and was the only cricketer in the Forbes Top 100 of the world’s highest-paid sportspeople last year, with estimated earnings of $24million.
Those numbers are still swirling around my head as my phone buzzes and I’m asked to enter. Kohli is ready.
In the UK we find it hard to comprehend the level of attention and adulation that Indian cricketers, and you in particular, receive in your home country. How do you cope with it?
When England came to India last, Alastair [Cook] asked me the same. Even players who’ve toured many times, it still amazes them how much passion and attention people have towards cricket in India. I said, ‘You just get used to it’. There is literally no other option. You cannot avoid it. I don’t try and fight it anymore. I’ve tried to do that in the past, where I wanted people to understand to an extent what an individual wants in terms of space and just to be able to have a normal life… for a bit! But that is very, very difficult to expect when you have so many people wanting to see you or meet you or are inspired by you. So I’ve come to terms with the fact that it’s just something you have to accept.
Does it help that your wife Anushka [Sharma, the Bollywood actress and film producer] understands what it’s like to be in the public eye?
That was one of the reasons why we got along so well, to be able to understand each other’s mindset and the demands of being in such a position. And also the fact that we are so similar in terms of the backgrounds we have. People do not understand us at all. They think we live a fairytale life and things are only of royal standards, but in reality we are really normal people. We are in the public eye so it seems too far-fetched for the public to connect with, but we lead a very simple life at home. And that’s how we like to live. We do something that is in the public eye but we never chose to be recognised in this way.