Scrutiny of their backstories showed how all medalists had to deal with parental death or divorce, abuse or came from unstable homes.

A study in the UK divided 32 Olympic athletes into two groups - medalists and non-medalists. Science backs the theory that early-life disruption can prepare one for sporting excellence. This wasn’t the expected instant “boy to man” transformation this was Kohli’s first step towards becoming King Kohli. “I am going to play this game at the highest level and there is nothing that can distract me from doing that.” He would call his coach to tell him about his deep disappointment. Towards the end of that long and draining day, Kohli would tell his brother about his plan. Kohli would take off his pad and excuse himself. He would score 90, avert the follow-on and get out to a dodgy lbw decision. Soon, he would splash water on his face and walk out to resume his innings. On reaching the Kotla, in the company of mates in the dressing room, Kohli would finally break down and weep inconsolably. Nor could he figure out how he got the courage to call his coach and inform him that he would play the game. To date, he hasn’t understood why he didn’t shed a tear that night. They would drive to the hospital where the doctors would declare him dead. In the podcast, Kohli speaks about seeing his father take his last breath, the futility of pumping his chest and then running to a neighbourhood doctor’s home, banging the door in a frenzy but getting no response. It wasn’t to be thoughts around scoring a 100 the next day that would deny him sleep. He was unbeaten on 40 in the Ranji Trophy game. The previous evening, the young boy, playing his debut first-class season, had come home excited. In the wee hours of December 19, 2006, Kohli’s father had a cardiac arrest. #ViratKohli has started the practice for #AsiaCup 2022 at BKC Complex Mumbai. For the young cricketer, a silent witness to the family’s slide and the tense faces of the elders at home, the sight of his once busy-bee, but now bed-ridden, father was too painful. He would suffer a brain stroke that would compromise his vision and paralyse him partially. The father’s account would crash, transactions would get wiped out and the Kohli household would face this second tremor. To augment the family income, Kohli’s father would try his hand at online stock trading. Kohli would say that his father, a self-made man more inclined to reach for his tool kit and not the electrician’s number when the fuse snapped, always believed his son would get into the team only on the weight of his runs.Įven if in a weak moment the elder Kohli had thoughts of obliging the sharks, he didn’t have the resources. It wasn’t that the family couldn’t afford a cricket kit but to get spotted on the famously-corrupt Delhi cricket circuit you needed extra funds to grease palms and throw booze parties for officials. The unexpected setback would disturb Kohli Senior’s plan of making the baby of the family an India cricketer. The enterprise on which the Kohlis had bet their house, would go bust. The child protagonist of that “once-upon-a-time” tale might have no resemblance to the present-day, seemingly vulnerable, former India captain but ask captains around the world - when it comes to Kohli a sulk should never be confused with surrender.įive years before the death of his father, Kohli’s family moved to a rented accommodation to support his elder brother’s business idea. The world knows he first hit the headlines when he played a match-saving Ranji Trophy innings hours after his father passed away. zYgQ76zksLĪ couple of years back, in the ‘In Depth with Graham Bensinger’ podcast, Kohli had given an emotional account of a life-changing day from his turbulent teen years. It shows that he is no lily-livered cricketer. In these unsettling times, it wouldn’t be out of place to revisit an old and popular Kohli story.

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