MOHALI: At frequent intervals during the half-an-hour drive from Chandigarh railway station to the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium in Mohali, there are digital billboards reminding you that Virat Kohli is about to take the field for the 100th time in Test cricket on Friday.
About half a day after the Indian cricket board (BCCI) and the PCA announced that the first Test against Sri Lanka can have a crowd at 50 per cent of capacity, there were people queuing up outside various gates of the stadium enquiring about the availability of tickets.
For once, the PCA officials are hopeful a sizeable crowd will turn up at a venue which is infamous for poor turnouts in Test matches. For most part of Wednesday, any semblance of buzz around was all about Virat Kohli and his 100th Test until an 18-year-old boy dressed in Mumbai Indians jersey, waiting outside the gate to check for tickets, offered a reality check.
As a bunch of reporters were about to enter the stadium, the boy screamed: “We are here to watch Rohit Sharma.” As you paused and looked around before sneaking through the gate, he speared in a question with a sheepish smile: “Is there really a rift between Rohit and Virat?” He went on to add: “The Virat Kohli fans in my friends circle of school students will be here to celebrate Virat but there is a group which will come to see Rohit captain in a Test.”
Both Kohli and Rohit are tired of answering questions on their speculated rift. Their careers have run parallelly like two speeding trains. If Rohit got the head start in international cricket, Kohli pulled away like a bullet train in a matter of years as Rohit seemed like fighting an ominous battle to justify his talent.
By the time Rohit could find his core and eventually hit cruise mode, Kohli had become the undisputed poster boy of Indian cricket as it went through the throes of transition under MS Dhoni post the World Cup triumph in 2011.
Kohli’s aura grew like a behemoth. The runs flowed like a raging river, records tumbled like wiping out a cassette library and the team under him played every match like there was no tomorrow. Kohli, in essence, was the brand ambassador for Indian cricket. The ‘angry young man’ was back in vogue, first time since Amitabh Bachchan in the late 1970s and 80s.
Kohli has always maintained that Rohit was the most talented cricketer amongst his contemporaries. There’s a viral clip of one of his interviews where he says he buried himself into his seat after watching Rohit Sharma bat on his TV set during India’s victorious World T20 campaign in 2007.
Kohli’s drive is hard to match in contemporary cricket. He pipped Rohit to be a part of the 2011 World Cup-winning team. When Rohit was forever occupied with shedding the ‘laidback and carefree’ tag, Kohli was redefining fitness standards in Indian cricket. Kohli’s obsession with immaculate fitness and a no-nonsense approach towards it trickled down to the roots of Indian cricket.
It was at this venue six years ago against Australia in a World T20 quarterfinal that Kohli underlined the value of fitness as he single-handedly dragged India over the line in a run chase for the history books. His thankless diet, chiseled physique, an evident jawline and the stubble beard literally became prerequisites for making it as an India cricketer.
Amongst all this, as Kohli attained a sense of invincibility by 2019, Rohit’s stature grew stealthily as a white-ball maestro and a prolific IPL captain.
Cut to March 2022, things have changed dramatically. Relieved of all-format captaincy, Kohli walked in for nets at the PCA stadium, with the ever-intense look on his face making way for a carefree and chirpy demeanour.
As Rohit hopped nets, batted intently for a long time and chatted keenly with head coach Rahul Dravid, Kohli had a couple of rather casual stints in the nets spread over two hours. It seemed it was more about having a feel for the ball even as the seam of Siraj and the left-arm spin of Saurabh Kumar breached his defence. One could barely make out here was a man consumed by the struggle to score an international century for 27 months.
In a journey which has already spanned 15 years, Rohit has finally caught up with Kohli in terms of significance in Indian cricket. It’s just that they have swapped roles. Kohli is the carefree one now while Rohit is the one working overtime to define a template for his team.
Kohli is well past 33 and Rohit is about to turn 35. This Test will be a milestone match for both that will set the tone for the last lap of their international careers!
