Dear Virat Kohli,
You are one of the best batsmen at the moment. You may break all the records of the great Sachin Tendulkar. You work hard on your game. You have set the standards for generations to come. As captain as well, you are winning almost every series and every tournament. These things make you feel big, bigger than the game, right? You have shown it numerous number of times that you think you are bigger than the game. You think cricket is famous in India because you are playing it. Actually, it is totally other way round, you are famous in this country because you are playing cricket. If you would have been playing any other sport then no one would have been interested in you.
When success and money flow in, person is bound to be arrogant. Experts are predicting that you will break all the records of Sachin Tendulkar in one-day cricket but will you get the reception like Sachin at the time of your retirement? I doubt it. There are lots of reasons behind it. Let’s start with your temperament, you have been booed by the Indian crowd in an IPL match. In that match only, there were chants of ‘Kohli cheater’ all over the stadium. At the end of that game, you said “It doesn’t matter because same people will cheer for me, when I will do well for India.” Rather than saying that, you should have played with some spirit because till date, no other player has been treated like that by the Indian crowd.
You don’t respect your seniors. You are doing the same mistakes which Dhoni did. Dhoni kicked all the greats like Sourav, Dravid, Sehwag, Gambhir, Nehra, Harbhajan, (even) Yuvraj out of the team & he paid the price. He thought they are not fit enough to play & He didn’t achieve much after kicking them or forcing them to retire. You are doing the same. You forced Kumble to resign. Kumble is one of the finest players game has ever produced. Treating him like that, was his insult. Then you insisted Sehwag to apply for the job. And you discarded him as well because of Ravi Shastri. Ravi Shastri was not the choice of the committee in 2016 and in 2017 as well, he was not the first choice. Drama around the announcement and appointment of batting and bowling consultants proves that.
The advent of Ravi Shastri and his political abilities is such that you kicked Yuvraj out of the squad, Nehra is in the squad but not in eleven and you are not even considering Raina and Harbhajan for selection. “The way he was hitting the ball. I felt like a club cricketer in front of him.” These were the words you used to describe one of the Yuvraj’s innings recently. After Shastri everything went off in the thin air. “I will bowl the last ball at 40.” Nehra gave this statement recently on Gaurav Kapur’s show. And now, he is on the verge of retirement. Nehra has announced his retirement because you gave him clear indication by not picking him in the eleven. At 38, you can’t make him sit out. You have insulted all these legends by discarding them. Right from CoA to Kumble to Sehwag to Yuvraj to Nehra.
In 2003 world cup, Ganguly brought Srinath back from his retirement to nurture youngsters like Zaheer & Nehra. Ganguly in his tenure, stood by each and every member of his squad. As a result, all of them are legends today. Dhoni survived those debacles on foreign tours because of his political hold in BCCI but you have been made the boss of Indian cricket by BCCI. BCCI gracefully accepted the resignation of Anil Kumble and gave you the crown with a mere warning. As a fan, I have stopped following Indian cricket because of you and your deputy (Mr. Shastri). I don’t enjoy India’s matches anymore because of the dirty games played with seniors by you and your political advisor Ravi Shastri. I will start following it again once you and your deputy are out of the team.
Again, cricket is not famous in this country because you are playing it. You are famous in this country because you are playing CRICKET.
Regards,
Former Indian cricket fan.
