Wasn't selected once as dad didn't pay bribe: Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli. (TOI Photo)NEW DELHI: Indian captain Virat Kohli would walk into any world XI today. But he once failed to make the cut for a Delhi junior team because his father refused to pay a bribe.
"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," Kohli said in a web chat with Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri. "He told my father while I had the merit, a little extra (bribe) was needed to confirm my selection."
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'," Kohli said.
"I didn't get selected. I cried a lot. I was broken," Kohli reminisced.
One needs to be extraordinary to be successful, asserts Virat
Explaining what he learnt from the experience, Kohli said, "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."
At the age of 18, Kohli lost his father in the middle of a Ranji Trophy match when he was playing for Delhi against Karnataka in 2006. The young Kohli, who saw his father breathe his last in the night, went to the ground the next morning and played a valuable knock to save the game for Delhi.
"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.
"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," Kohli said in a web chat with Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri. "He told my father while I had the merit, a little extra (bribe) was needed to confirm my selection."
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'," Kohli said.
"I didn't get selected. I cried a lot. I was broken," Kohli reminisced.
One needs to be extraordinary to be successful, asserts Virat
Explaining what he learnt from the experience, Kohli said, "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."
At the age of 18, Kohli lost his father in the middle of a Ranji Trophy match when he was playing for Delhi against Karnataka in 2006. The young Kohli, who saw his father breathe his last in the night, went to the ground the next morning and played a valuable knock to save the game for Delhi.
"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.
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