Virat Kohli outbursts truly getting in the way of overtaking Sachin Tendulkar as India's all-time great

Also Read: What Travis Head’s story on Instagram says after the Virat Kohli handshake controversy

Royal Challengers Bengaluru know it better than most, of course, which is why they had scheduled his hour-long interaction with celebrated anchor and television personality Mayanti Langer right at the end of the day-long session. Several empty seats dotted the vast hall for some of the earlier sessions but as the clock slid closer to 4.30 pm, the audience trooped in organically. Even though it was strictly a by-invitation-only gathering, there was only standing room by the time the former Indian captain breezed in, cocooned by the protective blanket that has become such an integral part of his life.

For a little over an hour, Kohli was at his articulate, eloquent best. He was studied and deliberate and measured, aware that the audience hung on to his every word and that every sentiment he echoed had the potential to make big news. He held forth on the learnings he had accrued over his 18-year run in international cricket, the support and encouragement he had received from so many, provided a window to the workings of his extraordinary mind and stressed more than once that he was now driven by a ‘larger purpose’.

“If you're only consumed and controlled by your own thoughts and the negative thoughts that you get, then you can't really perform beyond your limitations,” he philosophised. “Because you're already surrendered to your own negativity. And that made me realise, okay, if I can play for a larger cause, a larger purpose, then I can perform beyond my abilities that I feel I have. And that's happened throughout the course of my career. And then eventually the load (of being the best batter in the Indian team as well as its leader) took over. I have no complaints, though. I would absolutely repeat the journey ten times over. It was that beautiful.”

It still is beautiful, Virat, the journey. After all, you still play the IPL and exceptionally well at that, and you are a key member of the 50-over international side. There is so much you have to offer the cricketing world with your expertise, your experience, your professionalism, your commitment and passion and work ethic, your discipline, your desire, your competitiveness, your aggression.

And yet…

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, that other great leader of Indian cricket in the last two decades, will never be as articulate as Kohli, but the rustic simplicity to his thinking is unparalleled. In one of the many gems he espoused during his halcyon days, Dhoni spoke of a particularly specific trait endemic to our country. “In India,” he said, “every compliment is followed by a ‘but’.” Nine basic words with tremendous depth and feeling.

And it’s that ‘but’ which will hang around Kohli as an asterisk. Not against his batting (though critics can point to his last five years in Test cricket when he averaged in the early 30s), but against his aggression that can sometimes get out of control. Even at 37, going on 38.

Such as at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday night, when he and Travis Head, the sometimes irascible Australian, got into a distant, not always distinct war of words culminating in Kohli consciously ignoring the Aussie’s outstretched right hand after Sunrisers Hyderabad’s comprehensive 55-run win. Those either side were fortunate enough to receive a firm shake from the famous right hand, but Head was left embarrassed as Kohli played coy, an unbefitting end to a mixed night for the defending champions who, despite the heavy loss, still finished on top of the league table.

Kohli has had an interesting relationship with Australia and Australians for over a decade and a half. It was down under that he announced himself as a Test cricketer with his maiden century, in early 2012, and it was also there that he rediscovered his mojo with four hundreds in as many matches in 2014-15 after a forgettable tour of England in the 2014 summer when he made just 134 runs in ten innings. On his first visit, he flipped the bird to the fans; he subsequently got into various mild to troubling scraps, thundered in 2017 during Australia’s tour of India when he was the captain that he was no longer friends with them after Steve Smith’s ‘brain fade’ in Bengaluru, but still struck up an excellent relationship with Glenn Maxwell when the latter played under him at RCB. Interestingly, Maxwell had dramatically clutched his right shoulder after a dive at mid-on in the last Test in Dharamsala, laughing as he seemed to highlight Kohli missing the game with a shoulder injury – we called him ‘Mockswell’ then, though the name didn’t hold. Now, Kohli clearly gets along famously with RCB teammate Josh Hazlewood.

And yet, Head seems to be a kryptonite, an Achilles’ heel. Kohli took offence to Head indicating that Pat Cummins should try nicking him off when he swung the SRH and Australian Test skipper to fine-leg for four. The Indian in turn indicated that Head should come on to bowl, now that he wasn’t invoking the ‘impact sub’ luxury. When Kohli was dismissed by Sakib Hussain, Head was in his ear, telling him that Kohli hadn’t even waited for Head’s off-spin to be summoned. It was all full of theatre and drama, until it wasn’t following the handshake that wasn’t.

One isn’t privy to everything – we are at the mercy of television visuals when not at the venue – but no matter what transpired, the optics didn’t do Kohli any credit. What happens on the field, they say, must stay there; evidently, not everyone subscribes to that theory.

Kohli has been as animated this IPL as ever, but there has been an edge to his reactions which haven’t been highlighted. Only he can say what, if anything, has got his goat; he has mainly channelled it positively and productively but sometimes, the cracks come to the surface, such as on Friday night.

Tendulkar is a one-off, a force of nature when broke through early, quickly established himself as the fulcrum of the Indian batting, and carried unrealistic expectations even when he played his 200th and last Test at 40 and a half. He was the perfect ambassador, metamorphosing seamlessly from a curly-haired, baby-faced 16-year-old to the elder statesman not just to fellow Indians, but to generations of cricketers around the world. He was (is?) an emotion more than an individual or a cricketer or a batter supreme, as the copious tears from the packed stands (and beyond) during his retirement speech at the Wankhede in November 2013 will testify. He is the gold standard when it comes to all things cricket so far as India is concerned, a standard Kohli has striven (maybe not consciously) to emulate and surpass, if that were humanly possible.

Both have had to contend with numerous pressures, some similar, others vastly differing, during their celebrated careers; they have scaled summits and occasionally fallen flat, touched dizzying heights and plumbed debilitating depths. They will be hailed for their contributions to the sport, for being role models and entertainers, but one is fairly certain there will always be extra reverence for Tendulkar because of the dignity with which carried himself on the park. For nearly a quarter of a century. Without fail. Now, how many can claim the same?

Click here to read article