Virat Kohli and Bengaluru, a love story cricket fans will never forget

Khaleej Times

2 days ago

When Virat Kohli first played for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (it was known as Bangalore at the time) in April 2008, the world was a very different place. Back then, George W Bush was the American president, Osama bin Laden was the most wanted fugitive, Lionel Messi had yet to win his first Ballon d'Or and Burj Khalifa was still under construction.
But in these 17 long years, two things never changed — RCB fans never turned their back on the team, even when they hit rock bottom in the IPL and Kohli never stopped giving 'every ounce of my energy' to lift their spirits.
Kohli was an energetic 18-year-old when he made his RCB debut in 2008. Fresh from leading India to the 2008 Under 19 World Cup triumph, the Delhi boy was tipped to be India's next big star who had yet to make his debut for the senior national team.
Seventeen years later, Kohli retired from two formats of the game at international level, having attained a near-mythic status in a cricket-obsessed country on the back of his match-winning epics.
But in those 17 years, Kohli only suffered heartbreaks with the RCB. They came tantalizingly close to winning on three occasions — 2009, 2011 and 2016 — only to lose all three finals.
Perhaps, the most gut-wrenching defeat came in 2016 when Kohli almost singlehandedly dragged the team to the final, scoring over 900 runs with four centuries in what was a truly astonishing display of batsmanship.
But the final defeat to the Sunrisers Hyderabad was a bitter pill to swallow.
Now at 36, Kohli is a shadow of the player he was at his peak, especially during a stunning four-year stretch from 2016 and 2019 when his bat seemed like a wand, conjuring a myriad magical of knocks for India and the RCB across formats.
But runs were hard to come by when Kohli walked out to bat in the final against Punjab Kings on Tuesday.
The former India captain was in decent form going into the big game at the world's biggest cricket stadium, having amassed more than 600 runs in the season.
But it was the weight of expectations that weighed on him as he launched his latest bid for the only white-ball trophy still missing from his cabinet.
As Kohli was dismissed following a laboured 43 off 35 balls, it seemed the writing was on the wall after the RCB put up a below-par 190 for nine.
Fortunately for the team and the army of fans, their bowlers, especially Krunal Pandya, rose to the challenge, neutralising the threat posed by Punjab batters to end the 18-year wait for that elusive trophy.
No wonder Kohli dropped to his knees and cried tears of joy after the RCB finally joined the league of champions.
'This win is as much for the fans as it is for the team. It's been 18 long years. I've given this team my youth, prime and experience. I've tried to win it every season, gave it everything I have. To finally have it is an unbelievable feeling,' he said.
'Never thought this day would come, I was overcome with emotion after the last ball was bowled. Gave each and every ounce of my energy and it's an amazing feeling.'
It was only natural for the RCB talisman to run the gamut of emotions on Tuesday night.
Here's a man who could have left the team and joined the Chennai Super Kings or the Mumbai Indians in search of the trophy.
But the deep connection he shared with the passionate RCB fans never allowed him to abandon the ship.
'I've stayed loyal to this team, no matter what. I've had moments where I thought otherwise, but I stuck to this team. I stood behind them, they stood behind me. And I always dreamt of winning it with them. And this is far more special than winning it with anyone else because my heart is with Bangalore, my soul is with Bangalore,' he said.
Finally, Kohli, the only player to have represented the same IPL team since the start of the tournament in 2008, revealed that he could follow in the footsteps of Paolo Maldini (AC Milan), Francesco Totti (AS Roma), Ryan Giggs (Manchester United) and Lev Yashin (Dynamo Moscow) — the legendary one-club footballers.
'This is the team (RCB) I'm going to play for till the last day that I play the IPL,' he said.
'I'm someone that wants to win the big tournaments, the big moments, and this one was missing. And tonight, I'm going to sleep like a baby.'
To put things in perspective, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, the teen sensation who became the youngest IPL centurion this season, was not even born when Kohli played his first match for RCB in 2008.
Cricket has indeed produced some fascinating stories over the years, but Kohli's bond with Bengaluru is the one which will resonate forever in every fan's heart.