Kohli Blue

- Palllab Dutta.

KOHLI’S AGGRESSIVENESS UNDER THE SHADOW OF DHONI’S CALMNESS

 The stylish Indian test captain ,Virat Kohli ,26, is the role model of many youngsters and one of the most consistent performers of the INDIAN CRICKET TEAM. For the past 2 years he has been in the limelight for his power-packed ads to romancing the Bollywood diva Anushka Sharma. From promotions to charity, parties to controversies he drew his name everywhere.

Under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, the Delhi lad has matured into one of the most lethal batsmen for India and is  currently ranked 3rd in ICC ODI RANKINGS and 1ST in ICC T20 RANKINGS. However he has managed to gather a lot of criticism from the cricketing  experts for his under point-black range aggresion, unlike Dhoni. 

ABOUT DHONI ;

Speaking of Dhoni, 33, he is the most successful captain of Indian cricket. He is as cool as ice and known for his down to earth decisions. Well no cricket fan can ever forget the 2007 T20 WORLD CUP last over where not so popular Joginder Sharma became a fairytale hero in the history books with his mind numbing bowling figures defending those 13 precious runs. There was no looking back from then and we won the WORLD T20 IN 2007, WORLD CUP 2011 and the CHAMPIONS TROPHY 2013. He led India to the numero uno test team status. He boasts of 101 ODI wins ,just 7 behind the 2nd most successful captain Allan Border with 107 wins; Ricky Ponting having the most of 165 wins.

Controversies ;

Kohli is known for rolling his tongue after scoring a century or after taking a catch. His unwanted sledging with senior batsman Gautam Gambhir is no less act. He was seen abusing a sports journalist during the world cup in Australia regarding his private affairs.  His girlfriend Anushka Sharma too came into the heat for Kohli's poor show in the World Cup ,precisely remembering the semi-final where he got out cheaply after scoring 1 run and was regarded of being careless  while pulling a short ball off Mitchell Johnson.

On the other hand reflecting on Dhoni’s captaincy he never had such bitter memories. Being one of the best finishers of the game he has been however sadly blamed for the ouster of senior cricketers like Virender Sehwag , Zaheer Khan , Yuvraj Singh and others . The most recent spout of fierce words came from Yograj Singh, father of Yuvraj Singh, claiming Dhoni to be the man responsible for his son’s omission from the World cup squad. 

What could have been worse for him when LODHA COMMITTEE OF SUPREME COURT held Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra responsible for betting in famous 2013 IPL SCANDAL,and banned Chennai Super kings and a Rajasthan Royals indefinitely. It is impossible for cricket fans to imagine IPL without Dhoni. The release and auction of the players is yet to be decided.

DHONI’S RETIREMENT ;

Virat Kohli  was elected as the captain of Indian test team after MSD decided to step down in the series of DOWN UNDER 2014 in which India lost to Aussies 2-1. Kohli scored a mountain of 639 runs surpassing Rahul Dravid’s 619 runs in the famous 2003-04 BORDER GAVASKAR TROPHY. He however lost his touch in the subsequent World Cup scoring just one century against Pakistan where he was rated high.

He recently led the national side to a 2-1 test series win against Srilanka ,ending a 24 years drought for a win in the island soil. He was appreciated for his fluent tribute to the retiring star batsman Kumar Sangakara's retirement gesture. However he could not find himself away from verbal spout against the Lankan fast bowlers where pacer Ishant Sharma was banned for 1 match.

TASTES AND TRAITS;

VK brings the memories of the aggressiveness found in Sourav Ganguly and Ravi Shastri. But Dhoni reminds us the legacies of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. Dhoni’s greatness was also proved when Sakshi Dhoni was expecting their baby. Dhoni was out to play the World Cup unlike fellow cricketers who would desert their team . He took it as a duty to serve the national side and carried it under such pressure and criticism.

Now even Steven Waugh has urged his son to take Kohli as his idol and Kohli is expected to take little master’s place but that would be too early to say and he has miles to go before he hangs up his boots. 

LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST;

We are proud to live in an era to have seen such great talents play and serve our team. From the controversies and love, from their private affairs to their celebrations we can’t miss any of it. But let us not forget they are humans too and that we should stand by our team and players. A win or loss doesn’t come hard if we accept it together as a nation of millions dreams to fulfill. Long live our MEN IN BLUE.

###BLEED BLUE