Sachin Tendulkar was once compared to the legendary Donald Bradman. Virat Kohli has now stepped into that eminence. He did get his fast duck after 51 innings. But it has happened also to other all time greats in cricket. Like an average batsman, he can also make mistakes. Since the World 20-Twenty and through much of the IPL, it seemed Kohli was a maestro who could never make mistakes and his performance gave him a superhuman image. He has been making huge totals- 273 runs at an incredible average of 136.50 in 5 innings in the World Cup. Then came a spectacular total of 970 runs at an average of 83.54 and a strike rate of 151.94. He had scored four hundred. He had of course faced critics. It was said that he could not hit sixes. They did not remember that Frank Worrel did not specialize in sixes. Great innings are made up of singles and tools. Kohli silenced his critics later by hitting sixes 25 times.
Cricket now has many constraints. Kohli has achieved his great success within these constraints. And now he will notch up 1000 runs and joint such icons as Bradman, Tendulkar and Brian Lara. Tendulkar came to be known as little Bradman. Kohli is well on the way to enter the hall of fame. He has indeed done Indian Cricket great credit.
On another note the God of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and India’s nightingale Lata Mangeshkar were roasted by stand-up comedian Tanmay Bhat. This has caused a furore with political parties jumping into the fray. In India celebrities enjoy the status of gods and goddesses and any attempt at poking fun at them becomes politically incorrect. India and Indians should learn to take life less seriously.
