Royal Challengers Bengaluru ke superstar aur IPL ke run machine Virat Kohli ne ek interesting memory share ki hai jo aaj tak kisi ne nahi suni thi. Kohli, jo lagbhag har top bowler ko IPL mein dhool chata chuke hain, is baar ek aise pacer ke baare mein baat kar rahe the jiske against wo bilkul helpless feel kar rahe the.
Yeh baat hai 2008 ke pehle IPL match ki – Eden Gardens ka atmosphere, packed crowd aur 223 ka target. 18 saal ke young Kohli pehle hi pressure mein the. Aur tabhi saamne aaye Ishant Sharma.
“The interesting thing, which I’ve never spoken about, is that Ishant and I played all our cricket together, so I have faced him a lot. But in that game, I felt he was bowling at a different level, and that was the pressure. That is what environment means. Had I faced him in the nets, I wouldn’t have been intimidated, but that day, I felt like I couldn’t hit any of his deliveries, and that was because of the atmosphere and the pressure,”
Kohli ne bataya ki chahe wo aur Ishant Delhi Ranji team ke liye ek saath khelte rahe ho, lekin us din ka vibe hi kuch aur tha. Eden Gardens ka electrifying mahal, aur crowd ka energy – sab kuch mila ke Ishant Sharma unhe ek alag level ke bowler lage.
Na sirf pace, balki Ishant ka attitude bhi on point tha. Australia se return karte hi wo naye hairstyle ke saath ek star ban gaye the, aur unka sledging bhi full form mein tha.
“We were staying in different hotels, so there was no conversation about the game. But yes, he was sledging a lot. I mean, seriously…he just came back from Australia, had that new hairstyle, so he had that star attitude. I said, ‘side mein aa mein tereko batata hu’. But all fun and games,”
Unfortunately, Kohli ka us match mein stay zyada lamba nahi tha – sirf 5 balls khele aur 1 run banaya. Ashok Dinda ne unka catch leke unka innings khatam kar diya, aur RCB woh match 140 runs se haar gayi.
Fast forward to IPL 2025, Kohli ek legend ban chuke hain. IPL ke sabse zyada run banane wale player hain – 8168 runs in 256 matches, woh bhi sirf ek hi franchise – RCB – ke liye khelte hue.
Aur abhi bhi unki form full fire mein hai. Iss IPL season mein unhone pehle hi 164 runs in 4 matches jod diye hain, jisme do solid fifties bhi shamil hain. Kohli ki batting hi RCB ke strong start ka ek bada reason hai.
Waqt badal gaya hai, lekin Virat Kohli ka junoon, honesty aur game ke liye respect wahi hai – aur ye hi unhe sabka favourite banata hai.
