Sunil Gatade | Virat Kohli’s Exit From Test Cricket: A Legend Sets An Example For India
Virat is a phenomenon and a self-made man who has his fan following all across the world, including across the border
The retirement of Virat Kohli from Test cricket is a signal from the legend that it is better to hang up your boots when not just the going is good for you, but you are also at the peak.
No one would have even remotely suggested to the master that it was high time that he called it a day, nor does anyone have the guts to suggest this, given the form and fitness of the ace batsman. “Cricket’s greatest showman leaves its grandest stage”, said an expert, echoing the views of many that the 36-year batsman had a lot more to offer.
Virat is a phenomenon and a self-made man who has his fan following all across the world, including across the border. It is said that even in Pakistan, the fans like their country to win as well as Virat to do better. Life is full of contradictions, and there is neither white nor black, but grey too.
I am not much of a cricket buff but can well understand that the decision Virat Kohli took is because he is a mature professional who knows the game inside out, and wants to remain on top.
It is no wonder that the brand value of Virat is expected to go up despite his decision to quit Test cricket. The underlying message is clear: “You cannot put down a Virat”.
Looking from the political prism, Virat Kohli is not only vastly different but also a very rare species, which needs to be detected only through a microscope. In politics, no one likes to hang up his boots, whether he is past 70 or 80, even at a time when India is a nation of the young. In fact, retirement is a dirty word in politics, and the time is not far off when suggesting retirement to a leader would viciously attract trolls dubbing those saying so as “anti-nationals”.
Only last week, 84-year-old NCP supremo Sharad Pawar floated a test balloon, speaking about the possibility of his party coming together with that of the breakaway NCP faction led by his nephew Ajit Pawar, which has now become the “real” NCP after a good show in the Assembly polls. The possibility, many observers felt, was like Pawar Senior putting up the white flag.
Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra deputy CM, has not spoken a word yet but has so far always maintained that his uncle is his leader. At the elder Pawar’s birthday, Ajit, along with his wife as well as top leaders of his party, had called on the uncle to wish him happy birthday. It looked like a family affair, and there were no photos.
Sometime back, in the heat of the Lok Sabha polls, Ajit had wondered aloud why the elder Pawar does not retire. Coming from the nephew whom he had groomed, it was more than a bitter pill. But politicians have a thicker skin. Ajit’s diatribe was made good use of by the uncle and his supporters to generate a sympathy wave.
The senior Pawar is in good company. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, whose political worth was recognised by the party high command only when the Congress lost power in May 2014, is 82. Mr Kharge is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, where Sharad Pawar is a member.
It is interesting to note that 78-year-old US President Donald Trump, much in the news in India in the wake of the conflict with Pakistan, was in the thick of rumours recently. Rumours of a third Trump presidency were fuelled after his campaign began selling hats printed with the words “Trump 2028”. The US Constitution’s 22nd Amendment prohibits anyone becoming US President more than twice.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be 75 years old in September this year. Since he took over in 2014, he has virtually made it a rule in the BJP that leaders over 75 are retired and sent to the party’s so-called “Margdarshak Mandal”. It does not require rocket science to understand that the rules meant for the rank and file do not always apply to the top leader.
In Hinduism, the Sanyas Ashram, or the fourth stage of life, may start around 75. Sannyasa means complete renunciation.
Sonia Gandhi, too, is 78, and still a member of the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. This too at a time when Rahul Gandhi has become Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha in the aftermath of his Bharat Jodo Yatra, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has also become a member of the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala.
There have been rare examples in Indian politics where those in the thick of action have suddenly called it quits. A notable example is that of socialist leader Madhu Limaye, who quit active politics soon after the exit of the Janata Party government in the late 1970s. The veteran parliamentarian had raised the dual membership issue that angered the erstwhile Jan Sangh in the undivided Janata Party.
Another leader who quit active politics around the same time was Nanaji Deshmukh, the powerful general secretary of the undivided Janata Party, who belonged to the Jan Sangh.
P.V. Narasimha Rao had packed his bags to go to Hyderabad from New Delhi. But fate took such a dramatic turn. Instead of bidding goodbye to politics, he became Prime Minister in the wake of the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 in the midst of the Lok Sabha elections.
Strangely, in politics, retirement is more an imposed thing than one that comes from deep within for the leader of any hue. The maxim of “jitna chalta hai chalne do” in politics is making it more of a laughing stock when sportsmen like Virat Kohli are setting an example.
The writer is a journalist based in New Delhi