Cricket is a volatile game, and no one can vouch for that better than one innocent bystander who just so happened to be dating the country’s top batsman. The year was 2015, Virat Kohli was dismissed almost immediately after stepping onto the field in the World Cup semifinals and the needle of blame spun a complete 180 degrees to point squarely at Anushka Sharma for distracting her man on the pitch with her feminine wiles… while sitting amongst a crowd of thousands.
The couple has come a long way since, having weathered a break-up along the way, but what remains noteworthy is Virat’s steadfast love for Anushka. His only response to the uncontrolled hate has been an unflinching show of support, and he consistently attributes his successes to her.
A recent interview which has him raving about Anushka has unsurprisingly gone viral. Dressed in his designer threads, Virat reminisces, “I was in Mohali and there was a test series going on. I was with Anushka then, she had come to visit me. Surprisingly, when I was made Test Captain, then also she was in Melbourne with me. That was a very special moment we shared together.”
“During the Mohali incident, they had spoken to me already. When I hung up the phone and told her, for me it was like a flashback. From the moment I started playing in my academy till the Mohali game. I was emotional; I was in tears because I had never thought that I will see this day. What was more beautiful was that, I was able to share it with Anushka. It was something that I will always remember,” he says.
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In case you needed more reasons to nominate him for Original Woke Bae, how about the fact that…
He has openly, and quite vociferously, declared himself a feminist
“The intolerance I see… many people don’t even know that they are intolerant, and many of them don’t want to change. At some point, it becomes a personal choice, and I would definitely want to think about life from the side of the woman. Everyone should be a feminist,” he revealed in an interview with Live Mint.
And that it has been a learning curve
“You obviously have to learn from your partner, right? People are very chauvinistic in this country. I certainly wasn’t aware of that growing up, to be honest. But I have started to see myself as a feminist.”
He isn’t afraid to use his clout to get the conversation started either
“I strongly feel that if something needs to be addressed, I will go out and say it. I’m doing a particular thing in my life with my profession and suddenly I find myself in a place where people are listening to what I have to say. And I feel once you have the chance to even influence five people, you should voice your opinion on the things that need to be addressed. You need to be brave about the things you want to take up.”
