14 years of Virat Kohli: The anticipation, buzz and expectation all constants in a glittering career

18th August, 2008, India have been dealt an early blow; with Virender Sehwag having turned over his ankle, Virat Kohli has been called upon to replace the veteran. At first, it is a decision that makes a lot of Indian fans nervous. Kohli has not played a senior international game before and Sehwag, well, is Sehwag.

As India prepare to bat, though, there is also plenty of excitement. This right-handed batter has just led his country to U-19 World Cup success, and has shown that he relishes the trials and tribulations that come with international cricket. He has a fairly decent range of strokes too, and looks set to take the next step in his career.

So, it’s safe to say that there is plenty of buzz around this precocious youngster. There is anticipation and expectation too. Not just because he is replacing Sehwag but also because of what he has achieved in age-group cricket.

The 18th ball he faces is dispatched to the boundary, portraying a stamp of authority not usually associated with greenhorns. He walks across his stumps and whips it past square leg as if the fielders or the pressure didn’t exist altogether. Kohli does not last long in his debut essay against Sri Lanka but there’s enough to make everyone gush about him. He only scored 12 runs on that sultry afternoon in Dambulla. That tells you all you need to know about the expectations that have followed him at almost every juncture.

By the time the 2010s came around, Kohli had established himself as one of India’s biggest batting superstars ever. The ODI format came naturally to him. His fortunes in the longest format picked up after a worrying teething period, and his T20I numbers, despite what has happened lately, remain extraordinary.

A lot changed with respect to his batting too. At the start of his career, he was prone to the odd lapse in concentration. There would be awe-inspiring cover drives, but there would also be occasions when he would waft and get dismissed. He would over-balance every once in a while, and be susceptible to the LBW too. But for a brief period between 2015-18, it felt that he was invincible, doing whatever he pleased and leaving the bowlers at his mercy.

The trajectory has dipped a touch in recent years, although this article is not about what he should be doing to rectify it or arguing if he has lost his golden touch or not. It is about how he and his international career, despite all the changes that he has undergone, remains eerily similar to how it was 14 years ago – filled with an enormous amount of anticipation, buzz and expectation.

Virat Kohli has completed 14 years in international cricket

Kohli’s numbers are, simply put, quite astonishing. That he has done so while captaining India for a significant chunk and while shouldering a billion hopes, only adds further lacquer to his legend. It is not a recent phenomenon.

If you cast your mind back to his ODI debut, it was all about seeing what the then 19-year-old could do. Of course, the magnitude has changed, considering he has long been Indian cricket’s poster boy but the core element of it remains the same, right?

Even by normal standards, Kohli has not been among the runs lately. It has been more than two years since he last scored a century in international cricket. Prior to that, he did so as often as the sun rose in the east. Now, every boundary he scores is cheered, dreaming that it would, someday, be a catalyst of a return to the glory days.

That is, to an extent, the fans’ way to tell Kohli how much they care about him and his contributions to international cricket. There’s no way a cover drive should be remembered for years, or a six off Shaheen Shah Afridi should be reminisced, considering India lost that World Cup game. To Pakistan for the first time in their history. But because it is Kohli, it feels alright. Almost like a hopeless romantic longing for that perfect ending after a sprightly beginning.

From the fans’ point of view, then, not much has changed vis-à-vis Kohli. He may not be plundering runs as he once was but the anticipation, the buzz and the expectation is just as it was back in 2008.

If you look at Kohli too, you would never have guessed that he is undergoing the toughest phase of his international career. He is still bouncing about the place, getting the crowd to raise the decibel levels, letting opposition batters know what he thinks about their techniques, looking at the pitch as if some undeciphered mystery has led to his undoing, and trying to impose himself.

The intensity, if anything, is possibly greater than he showcased as a 19-year-old. He knows he hasn’t scored runs but he also understands that if he does not attain his usual levels of bravado, the legend or spectacle that he is, will cease to exist.

And that bit has remained the same since he made his international bow. He might not have been as outspoken when sharing the dressing room with the likes of MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. Yet, he was still someone who wore his heart on his sleeve.

After 14 forayed years into international cricket, Kohli remains that exact individual who wants to dominate, irrespective of the conditions and the opposition. That individual who wants to be remembered for how aggressive he was, and that individual who inspired a team to fight fire with fire.

So, from his standpoint, nothing has changed. For the fans too, it feels very congruent. Every innings is awaited with bated breath, and there is always hope that a dark dusk will lead to a much brighter dawn. On that sultry afternoon in Dambulla too, there were only murmurs of what this greenhorn was capable of. And they turned into tangible tales of talent over the years, while eliciting excitement not many cricketers have done in recent times.

For as long as Kohli plays, it will remain the same. There will be anticipation. There will be a buzz. There will be expectations. He might not always be able to live up to it because, hey, he is human. But you can’t take these facets away. Kohli would not be Kohli if you did.