Virat Kohli recollects the tragic day when his father passed away

After Sachin Tendulkar (1997-98) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2007), current Indian skipper Virat Kohli became the third cricketer to receive the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. It has been a long and amazing journey for the Delhi batsman, who currently is being hailed as the finest batsman of this generation.

Nothing comes easy in life and all the fame and accolades Kohli is enjoying didn’t come easy as well. He came from a middle-class background and some tragic incidents happened at a very crucial juncture of his life. Nevertheless, he kept moving forward towards the goal, worked relentlessly to pursue his dream and he has written his own destiny.

Kohli recollected one of the saddest moments of his life when his father Prem Kohli passed away. In an interview with National Geographic, he said that there was a Ranji Trophy game going on at that time as well and he was batting overnight on 40. He reminisced about how no one came forward to help him and how his father passed away in his arms.

“It happened in my arms.  It was 3 in the morning, and I was batting overnight. I was 40 not out, and I had to go in the morning and bat the next day because it was a four-day Ranji Trophy cricket. We just couldn’t get help. We tried to get help from the neighbours, whoever we knew was a doctor.  It was such a time of the night that no one responded. By the time ambulance and everything came, everything was already gone,” he said.

I became more focused after that incident

Kohli went on to bat at the Feroz Shah Kotla the next day morning for Delhi and scored a hundred, after which he came back to complete the final rites of his father. The 29-year-old said that this incident made him focus more on cricket as that was the dream he and his father saw collectively.

“I think I became much more focussed after that (father’s death). I lost total desire of wanting to do the other stuff and put all my energy into realizing my dream and my father’s dream as well,” Kohli said.

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