Bengaluru: He is neither a prodigy of fairytales nor a frail child of dust. Instead, Virat Kohli is a man destined for glory. For over five years now, with a physical stature of 5’ 7”, he has stood tall amongst many Indian batting ruins. But perhaps, for the first time in his career, the stroke-maker par excellence has found his blade turn blunt, with the runs barely trickling in. In 10 games so far, the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper has managed just 154 runs, an apology for the talent extraordinaire.
But he is not beating himself up, for, Kohli, backs up his attitude with supreme confidence. It was with this self-belief that he defended himself, with a smile that reached his eye, following a critical 16-run win over Delhi Daredevils. Few have the grace and ability to make light of their poor form, but Kohli did when he said, “I’ve got out in every possible way this season and the only thing that is left is hit wicket. But it’s all part and parcel of cricket. I have to be mature enough to take these things in my stride. People are going to say a lot of things and pull me down and put me off World Cup.
“It’s frustrating when the team doesn’t get the right results, but I am not worried about my performance so long as the team keeps performing. I believe in my abilities and I need just one good game. In a tournament like IPL it’s very difficult to get out of a zone that you get into. I am still hitting the ball well that much I know. In cricket sometimes things don’t go your way and am experiencing that.” Much like the previous match against Rajasthan Royals, Yuvraj was the go-to-man on Tuesday night.
Kohli, who had marked out the southpaw on his wish list well before the auction, said, “I’m glad someone like Yuvraj Singh has stood up. A lot of people had written him off which I think should never happen to any cricketer because you never know when someone comes back. The way Yuvi has come back, we got to respect what a world class player he has been for India. He has won us two World Cups single-handedly and it’s all about respecting that person who has served the country for so long.”
All that is left for Kohli and his men is four games and an outside chance to qualify for the play-offs. But the Delhi youngster believes the season has been a learning experience. “The kind of results we had in the past few games we’ve come really close and lost three-four games which we should have won, honestly.”
