Virat Kohli Recalls The Time When His Father Declined To Offer Bribe For His Son's Selection
Updated - 18 May 2020, 03:48 PM
It is well-known to almost all that Virat Kohli has endured hardships and struggle to be where he is today. Not only is he the greatest players across formats today, but also stands tall when it comes to showing humanity. The Indian captain also iterated the tragic loss of his father, Prem, as a young man, who had the maximum impact on his career.
On Sunday, as he engaged with footballer Sunil Chettri in an Instagram Live Chat show, Virat Kohli recalled the time of his non-selection in the team as a junior. Most of all, his father declined to offer a bribe that would have confirmed his selection straight away. Despite being told that Kohli had the merit, a bribe was asked.
As told by the Delhi batsman, bad things happening are quite rampant in his home state. During the conversation, the man told his father that while his son had the potential in him, a bribe was required to confirm the selection. His late father, being a simple and hard-working man, hit back by saying that a selection has to be on merit purely and no extra money would be handed over.
“In my home State (Delhi), sometimes things happen which are not fair. On one occasion, a certain someone did not play by the rules when it came to selection criteria. He told my father that while I had the merit to be selected, a little extra (possibly a 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 ‘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.” the 31-year old said as quoted by India Today.
“I didn’t get selected. I cried a lot” – Virat Kohli
On coming to know about the same, Virat Kohli began weeping. At the same time, he is thankful for those lessons since he realized that one has to be outstanding to become successful at what they do and hard work and efforts are the only ways to do it. Kohli felt that his father showed him the right direction, not only through words, but also by action.
“I didn’t get selected. I cried a lot; I was broken. But that incident taught me a lot. I realised that I had to be extraordinary to become successful, and that I had to achieve this purely through my own effort and hard work. My father showed me the right way, through action and not merely words.” he added further.
As a batsman, Virat Kohli is indeed on his way to smashing plenty of records and has already risen to the highest of the echelons. With 11867 runs in ODI cricket, he is close to breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 18426, the most in the format. His 43 tons in 50-over international cricket is the second-most behind Tendulkar, whose tally is 51. Kohli is also the only batsman in the present era to average over 50 in every form of the game comfortably.
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