The most repeated anecdote about Virat Kohli, which shows his commitment to cricket, is the time he batted for the Delhi Ranji Trophy team against Karnataka despite the demise of his father, Prem Kohli, during the game in 2006. When Kohli’s father passed away due to cardiac arrest, he was batting on 40 overnight. However, showing his sheer commitment, the 18-year-old Kohli returned the next morning and ended up scoring 90 runs to help prevent Delhi from following on.
Robin Uthapa’s experience
At that time, Robin Uthappa, who was playing in that Ranji Trophy game for Karnataka, also spoke about the experience of watching Kohli play in that game.
“We heard about Virat, we heard about this young kid’s father’s demise. There was some accommodation that we needed to do as far as an extra fielder and all that’s concerned. But then he came on to bat the following day, which was pretty incredible. I remember just kind of speaking to him for about 30 seconds or so, just offering my condolences. He was very, very sweet about it. But when he batted that day, there was something about his eyes and the way he batted… very resolute when he batted, very few emotions, very resolute. Not like the burning fire we see Virat batting with, it was, it was more like an ember, you know what I mean? It was just like steady and controlled and keeping everything in check, something very beautiful, I felt. I sensed that time, about a youngster dealing with the demise of his father, and still turning up to play for his state, something very beautiful about it,” Uthappa said on the KimAppa show on Monday.
He went on to add: “Just the way he went about his innings was phenomenal, more than the cricket, what I remembered was the way he held himself. For me, that was the first time I kind of saw the thirst and perhaps the greatness of Virat Kohli, just Virat as a player. But after that, we became fast friends in RCB, and then, you know, we spent a lot of time together.”
Virat Kohli saw his father’s demise
“I was playing a four-day game at the time and was supposed to resume batting the next day when this (father passed) happened at 2:30 in the morning. We all woke up but had no idea what to do. I literally saw him breathe his last,” Kohli once told Graham Bensinger in an interview. “I called my coach in the morning and told him what had happened and that I wanted to play because leaving a cricket match was not acceptable to me no matter what. I came back from the game for the last rites and promised my brother that I will play for India.”