India cricket team captain Virat Kohli has emerged to not just be one of the batsmen of the game but is also a fashion icon to many youths of the country. His flamboyance along with his growing stature as a cricketer has made him one of the most influential personalities of the nation and adding to his many glimmering accomplishments, the 29-year-old had been featured as the cover of India’s GQ Magazine.
Kohli, who appeared in the magazine’s August cover opened up on his journey from being a “flash in the pan” in his early days to a global icon.
“(When I started out), I was judged a lot. I would get constant feedback about my appearance. The perception was that a person like me would only be a flash in the pan,” said the right-hander in an interview with the magazine.
“But the truth is if you work hard, the game will give back. The game doesn’t look at tattoos, it looks at commitment,” added the World No.1 ODI batsman.
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He took a dig at people’s sentiments in the past that players with funky hairstyles and tattoos could not become good players. “It’s not like, if I style my hair or have tattoos, I won’t dive on the field because it’ll get spoiled.” Younger players of the modern generation have however become more confident because there is no such mandate any longer he added.
“If you have tattoos, earrings or styled hair, you’re not stopped (at the junior levels) just because you’re flamboyant,” said Kohli who captioned his photo on the GQ magazine cover as “No guts -No glory-No story! On stands tomorrow.”
Kohli who led the Indian U-19 team to a World Cup glory in 2008 also spoke of his “obsession” with winning and how he would “go mad” every time the team lost a match.
“For me, winning is like an obsession. I’ve started to accept losses only now, but earlier, I would just go mad (when I lost),” he said also adding that things have however changed gradually as he has matured up. “I realise now this is not just about me working hard and doing something on the field, but also about seeing the larger picture. That I have this opportunity to do something special for my country.”
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The Indian team led by Kohli are currently playing the first Test match of the five-match series against England and helped by a 4-fer from spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and a three-wicket haul from Mohammad Shami have bundled the English for 287.