"When you open tomorrow's newspaper, you will only see Virat Kohli.."- Irfan Pathan

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan who played an imperative role in India’s 2007 T20 World Cup triumph, hailed Virat Kohli for his unmatched dedication to Cricket. The likes of Subramaniam Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, and Pathan were asked about their impressions of the former India captain. In that interview with Star Sports, all 3 of them had positive and encouraging reactions ahead of the 2024 IPL edition from March 22nd. 

Irfan Pathan had the best things to say about Virat Kohli than Badrinath and Harbhajan. The former all-rounder reminisced about Kohli’s initial days. Pathan remembered a young Kohli who had reached a good level and was enjoying himself both on and off the field. The former all-rounder was also fond of the stalwart’s commitment in those years when he was trying to make a name for himself.

Pathan applauds Kohli for never getting distracted by fame or money

It would be fair to say that Virat Kohli was an absolute superstar right from his U-19 days. And after he led the U-19 Indian team towards World Cup glory in 2008, Kohli’s stature grew further more. No other young cricketer ever received this much hype and then actually justified that hype with stellar performances.

For Kohli, it would have been very easy to get distracted and go down a different road instead of keeping his focus only on Cricket. Nowadays, Cricketers tend to forget their roots and the reason why they started after bagging big-money IPL deals as well as Central contracts from cricket boards.

But not Virat Kohli. He remained true to himself and the promise he made to his father about becoming the greatest of all time. If he had not made those sacrifices in his life and didn’t work hard for incredible fitness then we could have never seen anyone score 50 ODI centuries. And that record from Sachin Tendulkar would have forever remained just like it was.

Luckily, Kohli was not of the Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan batch and Irfan Pathan took note of that and praised Kohli for his outstanding commitment.

“Whenever I used to see Virat Kohli in the IPL then I used to only see a boy, a young boy who has reached a good level and is enjoying himself both on and off the field. When you open tomorrow’s newspaper, you will only see one man – Virat Kohli, open Page 3 and you’ll definitely see Kohli. But look he never sidelined Cricket.” – Irfan Pathan told Star Sports.

“It’s good that his focus always remained in Cricket and that is the reason why he became one of the greatest cricketers ever and that shows how committed he is towards the game.” – Pathan concluded. 

Young. Passionate. Hungry! 💪🏻@s_badrinath, @IrfanPathan, & @harbhajan_singh reminisce about their first impressions of @imVkohli, agreeing on his destined greatness! 🙌🏻

Will he guide RCB to glory in the upcoming #IPLOnStar? 👀

Watch #IPL on Star Sports from MARCH 22nd pic.twitter.com/MVdWJvndFh

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 5, 2024

Virat Kohli to stage his competitive return through IPL 2024

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli who is currently spending time with his newborn baby boy with wife Anushka Sharma, is most likely to stage his return through IPL 2024. The 35-year-old will be in action for the Royal Challengers Bangalore when they play this year’s opening match against Chennai Super Kings at the M.Chinnaswamy on March 22nd.