Why Virat Kohli doesn’t deserve our sympathy

Should we sympathise with Virat Kohli?

I mean, come on, the guy’s been performing like a maniac over the past few months—first for Team India and then surpassing himself and everyone else with his mind-blowing feats in this year’s IPL.

Almost single-handedly taking his team to the knock-out rounds and yet so near and yet so far.

He cut a forlorn figure at the prize-distribution ceremony post the final.

The Indian  media and fans have compared Kohli to that all-time great, Sachin Tendulkar.

The comparisons sometimes seem apt, sometimes odious, but it’s been about the statistics, the numbers and their stature in their respective sides.

Longevity will tell—it always does.

But what Virat has recently had a taste of is what Tendulkar and ,to an even greater extent, Brian Lara, experienced throughout their careers—their inability to carry and inspire their sides across that intangible finish line

virat kohli (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

That kind of frustration, that kind of heartbreak where you have to stand alone among the ruins requires a special kind of resolve.

Virat has it and that is what’ll make the man truly great.

Not the numbers alone, not the glory alone but the losses—the losses that hurt, the losses that build.

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