Virat Kohli has had several run-ins with rival players during his illustrious career so far, but by going ballistic at a journalist over a story about his private life he has yet again shown a petulant streak that isn’t worthy of someone who is tipped to take over shortly as India’s cricket captain on a full-time basis.
For someone who wears his heart on his sleeve and who is passionate about playing for his country, Kohli may be excused for getting into altercations on the field – heat-of-the-moment incidents as sports journalists love to call those – but what happened in Perth a couple of days ago has once again raised doubts whether he has the mental make-up to head a high-profile but disparate team like India where players come from different linguistic, cultural, social and religious backgrounds.
Kohli apparently flew into a fit of rage and directed a barrage of abuse at the shocked journalist – only to realise later that it was a case of mistaken identity and that the author of the piece about him and his film star girlfriend Anoushka Sharma was actually someone else!
The Indian batting star then committed another blunder – by not saying sorry directly to the journalist, but apologising through another member of the large contingent of Indian reporters covering the World Cup.
That apparently has not gone down well with the media who have accused him of not even having the elementary courtesy to directly own up a mistake.
In a column published in the Hindustan Times, the journalist subjected to Kohli’s tirade said he was still in “shock”.
“Go and tell him that he is an international player and he should learn how to behave,” Jasvinder Sidhu told the intermediary to inform Kohli after receiving the apology.
“How can he abuse and intimidate someone? I would like to add that Kohli did not apologise to me directly.”
Kohli has a long history of anger and emotion management issues that have often led to negative headlines, but fans and journalists tend to overlook this aspect of his personality because he has been pretty consistent with the bat.
He was fined in 2012 for making an indecent gesture at spectators during a match in Sydney and has often riled Pakistani players with unnecessary aggression during matches.
Kohli is 26 years old and still has at least a decade of top level cricket left in him, but he needs to curb his tendency to shoot from the mouth if he wants to go down in sporting history as a successful leader.
In that it’s surprising he has not imbibed some of the qualities of his current captain M S Dhoni, who has turned unflappability into a fine art with his monk-like demeanour even during extremely trying situations.
However, all is not lost and Kohli still has plenty of time to make up. Countless players have become captains but only a few among them have gone on to succeed as leaders. The sooner Kohli realises this, the better it would be for him in the long run.
