Virat Kohli Was Made Of Different Stuff: Punit Bisht Recalls His Emotional Stand With Kohli After His Father's Demise In 2006

Meghalaya captain Punit Bisht recalled the incident when star Indian batter Virat Kohli lost his father during a Ranji Trophy match in 2006.

Kohli was just 18 when his father-Prem Kohli- passed away on December 18, 2006, because of a heart attack. Kohli was playing for his state team Delhi against Karnataka in a Ranji Trophy fixture and he was batting on 40 at the end of the day.

To everyone’s surprise, the youngster walked out to bat and made a gritty 90 to help his side avoid the follow-on. Punit Bisht, who was involved in a 152-run stand with Kohli in that match, trip down memory lane and talked about the entire incident in the dressing room.

“To this day I wonder, how in the world did he muster the courage to drop in at the ground. We were all numb at his tragedy and here the boy was standing in the dressing room and ready to go out and bat.

“Mind it, his father’s last rites hadn’t been performed and he had just come because he didn’t want his team to lose a batter as we were not in a great position,” Bisht was quoted as saying by the Times of India. 

“Chetan sir, if memory doesn’t serve me wrong, was our coach that season. Both Chetan sir and Mithun bhai told Virat to go home as they were not sure whether it would be a prudent idea to let the kid go out there in a tense situation and how he would mentally cope up.

“Trust me, no one in the team even had a second thought that he should go back and be with his family and take his own time to grieve. But this is Virat Kohli we are talking about. He was made of different stuff,” he added. 

Kohli is set to make his appearance in his 100th Test match in the first Test against Sri Lanka on March 4 in Mohali.

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