STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: As characters, they are like chalk and cheese just as any ‘vada pao’ loving Mumbaikar and a ‘chhole-bhature’ craving Delhiite are expected to be.
But for every graceful cover drive, there is always a pull shot executed with panache, and that’s why Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, for the last decade and half, have complemented each other — in dejection, triumph and now in T20 International retirement.
Together, they make the word contrast come alive — Kohli bringing in the darker shades with his dogged intensity in pursuit of excellence and Rohit with those pastel shades which manifest calm amid the storm.
Their reactions immediately after the T20 World Cup triumph painted a thousand pictures.
Rohit, first on his haunches and then lying on the ground, had tear-filled eyes throughout. Kohli, on the other hand, quietly walked back towards the dressing room, trying hard to conceal the emotions that he was feeling. He was trying to soak in the festivities but was slightly detached too.
However, there was one common thread that continued to bind them — genuine respect for each other’s craft and achievements.
And that’s one reason why they respect each other’s space. Rohit very well knew that Kohli had decided to call it quits from the format irrespective of the result.
As his colleague of nearly 16 years declared his decision at the post-match presentation, the skipper allowed him the stage and the moment without speaking a word about his own future plans.
He did it in his own inimitable style at the press conference answering what was one of the last questions of the interaction.
Kohli seemed to have decided it much in advance.
“This was an open secret, it’s time for the next generation to take over. Win or lose, I was going to announce it,” just like his preparation before a big innings, the legend had done his homework and hence the timing was immaculate.
When Rohit was asked about his retirement, his answer was typically him, straight shot and in the moment.
“I never thought that I would retire from T20s. But the situation is such, I thought it is the perfect situation for me. Nothing better than winning the cup and saying goodbye,” the skipper said, his instinctive nature shining through for the umpteenth time.
If there are two powerhouse performers operating in the same era, there is bound to be friction.
There is an old jungle saying “Ek mayan mein do talwar nahi reh sakta” (there can’t be two swords in a sheath). In Indian cricket, the stakes are so high that two swords learn to co-exist for their own good.
Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev were sucked into it during the mid ’80s — a time when social media wasn’t even an idea.
Read ‘Runs in Ruins’ and ‘By God’s Decree’ and one would know that between 82 and 85, when captaincy became a game of musical chairs between the two, things were far from smooth.
But they never lost respect for what they both brought to the table.
The age in which Rohit and Kohli operated is beastly to say the least.
Over the years, the exponential growth of social media and the desperation for radical content, where fiction often is passed on as fact, the two megastars of Indian cricket were able to maintain their sanity, poise and dignity in the hullaballoo which both knew is and will remain superficial.