I wasn’t selected in Delhi team because my father refused to pay bribe, reveals Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli has stated a rather dirty practice in Delhi Cricket and how his father’s refusal to pay the bribe to a DDCA official resulted in him not finding a spot in the U-14 side. Kohli has further added that that incident made him a tougher player and made him focus on becoming a tougher player.
It has been a rather difficult journey for Virat Kohli from a chubby Delhi boy, who was promising and talented, to one of the most hard-working cricketers of the modern times. From being pulled up for his disciplinary issues to adhering to a strict and fitness-first life, one can only be astonished for his achievements. However, things were rather murky when he was bursting onto the Delhi cricket scene as a U-14 cricketer and Kohli, in a chat with Sunil Chhetri on Instagram Live, revealed that his father was asked to pay some bribe in order to get him selected in the Delhi age-group side.
"In my home state (Delhi)... sometimes things happen that are not fair... On one occasion, a certain someone did not play by the rules when it came to selection criteria. He told my father while I had the merit, a little extra (bribe) was needed to confirm my selection," Kohli told Sunil Chhetri.
“My father - an honest middle-class man who had worked hard all his life to become a successful lawyer - did not even understand what that 'little extra' meant. My father simply said, 'If you want to select Virat, then let it be purely on merit. I will give you nothing extra’. I didn't get selected. I cried a lot. I was broken," Kohli reminisced.
However, if anything, the situation worked like a charm for Kohli, who then went on to become even more determined and worked his way up. The U-19 victory and the subsequent success in the Emerging Cup propelled him to the national side and he hasn’t looked back ever since.
“That incident taught me a lot. I realised that this world runs like this. If you want to progress, do something that no one else is doing. If I had to become successful, I needed to be extraordinary. And I had to achieve this purely through my own effort and hard work. My father showed me the right way, through his actions and not merely words. Those little things had a great impact on me."
While Kohli’s progress has been noted by all and sundry, the one person who made him reach the pinnacle was no more. His father passed away when the current Indian skipper was just 18 in the middle of a Ranji Trophy match when he was playing for Delhi against Karnataka in 2006. Kohli reminisced about that and stated that the memories of his father helped him progress in his career.
"I accepted his death, as I was focused on moving forward with my career. In fact, I went and batted in a Ranji Trophy match the day after he died. His death made me realise that I had to make something of my life. Now, I think about how nice it would be if I could have given my father the peaceful retired life that he deserved. At times, I get emotional thinking about him," Kohli said.
0
0
0
0
0
0
Comments
Sign up or log in to your account to leave comments and reactions
0 Comments