"Tendulkar has carried the burden of the nation for 21 years. It is time we carried him on our shoulders."
A young, spiky-haired Virat Kohli saying those words after carrying Sachin Tendulkar on his shoulders was one of the most defining moments of India's 2011 World Cup triumph. Little did he know that five years down the line, Kohli would not only carry the burden of a billion people on his young 27-year-old shoulders, but also a legacy of five legends of Indian cricket.
There was a deep sense of emptiness in the country's most eyeball-grabbing sport after the Fab Five – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag – bid adieu to the game. Fans no longer worshipped their much-cherished Men in Blue as much as they did when the five greats were around. In the team itself, all the five shoes were too big to fill, and each came with its peculiar size, shape and variance.
Enter Kohli, the one man who has filled the double vacuum. If there's anything his jaw-dropping, masterful unbeaten 82 in the World T20 knockout match against Australia on Sunday proved, it's that he is not just Tendulkar. That's too simplistic for a guy who loves to take on complications. Kohli is a heady, perfectly-blended mixture of the five giants of Indian cricket. He is Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman and Sehwag rolled into one, ready to replicate their mammoth achievements on the field single-handedly.
Tendulkar's sheer class and aura of invincibility? Check. Dravid's unmistakable consistency and adaptability? Check. Ganguly's in-your-face, infectious aggression? Check. Laxman's God-gifted grace? Check. Sehwag's ease of run-making? Check.
Over the past couple of years, Kohli has transformed from being one of the quality players in the Indian team to being in a league apart from any of his contemporaries in world cricket. He raises the bar, breaks them, and repeats the cycle. He watched the Fab Five doing it while growing up. He is doing it now.
There's an inexplicable feeling of assurance when Kohli is at the crease, more so in run chases. No matter the magnitude of the task, nature of conditions or resilience of the opposition, Kohli has taken India over the line on numerous occasions. Even as others around him crumbled, he constructed victories. Tendulkar did that for a long part of his career. Don't switch off the television till Tendulkar is batting. The sentence remains the same now, the person changes.
Kohli also has a rare ability to succeed on any conditions, a trait Dravid was famous for. Be it at Adelaide, Johannesburg, Wellington, Galle or Bengaluru, Kohli has tons to flaunt. More recently, Kohli managed to rescue India on a seaming track against Pakistan at the Asia Cup in Bangladesh and a turning track against the same team at the World T20 in Kolkata. He can be a grinder besides being a flat track bully.
Kohli can certainly bully. At a time when he was right under the pump, he bullied Australian bowlers James Faulkner and Nathan Coulter-Nile in the 18th and 19th over to take the game away on Sunday. Kohli knows when to pounce, when to smother the opposition, when to seize the moment. Only Sehwag could do that with nonchalance. Not anymore.
And, almost to complement that intimidating factor, Kohli adds a touch of craft and elegance. In only his second ball of Sunday, Kohli shuffled a bit, picked a good length ball on the off stump and flicked it past midwicket for a four. It was a magical display of subtle wrist changes, straight out of the Laxman school of batting.
Lastly, if there's one aspect about Kohli that is strikingly similar to one of the illustrious five, it's the aggression. Kohli doesn't like to take things lying down, Kohli doesn't like to be steamrolled, Kohli doesn't like being calm. He will dish out to the opposition what is served to him, and won't take a step backward. It's something Ganguly introduced to the Indian team. It's something Kohli is bringing back.
"I am just grateful that I was able to do it for the team. That is the reason you play the sport. That is the feeling that you crave as a sportsperson," Kohli told bcci.tv on Monday.
It's this craving that Kohli runs after. What's more, he knows he can taste it. Great players are separated from the good by their desire to succeed coupled with their self-belief in achieving it. India's Fab Five had these attributes. Kohli has it in abundance.
And while cricket historians will chronicle the Fab Five individually, and sum up the impact they had as a group in what can be termed as renaissance era of Indian cricket, Kohli will give them an opportunity to view all the five as one.
And Kohli has a long time to go before another youngster carries him on his shoulder for all the burden he bears now.
