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  Books   11 Dec 2016  Book review: Chikoo—The passionate, angry cricketer from Delhi

Book review: Chikoo—The passionate, angry cricketer from Delhi

THE ASIAN AGE. | SACHIN CHATTE
Published : Dec 11, 2016, 2:40 am IST
Updated : Dec 11, 2016, 6:19 am IST

Lokapally’s book Driven: The Virat Kohli Story chronicles the ascendency of the 28-year-old cricketer hailing from a modest background.

Driven: The Virat Kohli Story by Vijay Lokapally Bloomsbury, Rs 399
 Driven: The Virat Kohli Story by Vijay Lokapally Bloomsbury, Rs 399

Virat Kohli’s rise in international cricket has been nothing short of meteoric. The Delhi boy made his first class debut in 2006, captained India to victory at the 2008 Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia and made it to the Indian senior team within months after that. The rest, to use an often-used phrase, is history.

Vijay Lokapally’s book Driven: The Virat Kohli Story chronicles the ascendency of the 28-year-old cricketer hailing from a modest background, who joined the WDCA (West Delhi Cricket Academy) at the age of 10 and made a name for himself with the bat, in no time.

As someone who is often dubbed as a worthy successor to Sachin Tendulkar but who also holds a candle in his own right, Kohli’s career is worthy of a book.

Lokapally is one of the most respected journalist in the country who has been covering the sport since 1981, including six limited over World Cups — as Ravi Shastri mentions in the foreword, Lokapally’s credentials as a journalist are impeccable and few among the media know the game as well he does.

The writer recaps the calling of Kohli from the point when he took up cricket — Raj Kumar Sharma, Kohli’s coach, mentor and father figure took him under his wings when the little boy’s dad took him to the former off spinners coaching academy.

Lokapally, who knew the coach personally, recollects the excitement that Sharma had on seeing Virat’s skills. “You have to see this boy”, he pleaded. His talents were honed at the academy and discipline was always an integral part of his approach to the sport. His father would drive him to remote venues on his two wheelers so that the lad wouldn’t miss any match.

Along with discipline, aggression has also been a part of Kohli’s trait — but that aggression also made him fearless when it came to training and facing fast bowlers during net practice. The coach also talks about the flick shot which has always been a favourite of India’s current Test captain. There are also some interesting insights in the book about how he was a shy and unassuming student at the academy during his early days.

But it hasn’t always been hunky and dory from the start — Kohli missed the boat for the under-14 team and the coaches and the family had to spend some anxious moments to ensure that he doesn’t lose focus on not being selected and carries on with his hard work and practice which eventually paid off.

As it happens with many inspiring stories, the journey is often more interesting than the destination. The author has spoken to everyone that mattered during the making of Virat Kohli, the cricketer. In this day and age, when there is so much information out there in public domain, with such easy access, putting together a book with previously unheard tales is quite an achievement.

The initial chapters of the book delve on this aspect, which makes for a fascinating reading. It covers his path to glory and how he made rapid strides in the game of cricket.

While there are opinions and comments from well-known cricketers, the anecdotes from relatively unknown people catch your attention. For instance, Delhi umpire Devendra Sharma talks about Kohli’s ethics — the player came to ask his permission to leave the ground because of some personal work, even though it was a friendly match and it was not necessary to ask for permission. Even though at one point of his career he was called brash, the incident reflects his ethics, with due credit to the coaches.

We even get to know how the Young Turk was nicknamed Chikoo, it was thanks to a fancy haircut where the then assistant coach Ajit Chowdhary remarked that he looks like a chikoo.  

There were some heart-breaking episodes as well during his early career — he went on to bat for the Delhi team in the midst of a personal tragedy when his father passed away. The writer has recounted the whole episode with great detail which shows the other side of Kohli and what he had to go through.

The book is written in a coherent fashion recounting incidents in a very matter-of-fact manner. There is no unnecessary or artificial adornment and like Kohli’s drive, Lokapally keeps it straight, without any sprucing up and sans any gossip.

Assuming he will play for another 8-10 years, the cricketer is just past the mid-point of his career. All his on-field accomplishments aside, to have a biography published at this age is no mean feat.

Sachin Chatte is a cricket commentator for All-India Radio, film critic for Goa’s Navhind Times, radio jockey for FM Rainbow and an IT consultant based in Goa

Tags: virat kohli, sachin tendulkar, ravi shastri, book review