Virat Kohli and Jack Wilshere: an analogy

Virat Kohli. Jack Wilshere. Two men. Two nations. Two sports. One fortune. Future Captains.

That sums it up really, doesn’t it? Virat Kohli and Jack Wilshere are two individuals whose emergence has taken the sporting world by storm in the last two years. Two young athletes, who have come through the ranks and have made the people in their respective sports sit up and take notice. Two men, who have consistently put in enormous performances that have led to comparisons with legends. Kohli has repeatedly proved himself as a top performer, and while some might still argue the assumption of Wilshere as a ‘future great’, those who watched him play his debut season at Arsenal keenly would know exactly what I am talking about. Bizarre assessment, you say?  I will try my best to give you something to ponder about. Here goes:

Kohli  blossomed into an international sensation from the roots of the U-19 World Cup. From the brash youngster who led India to the title triumph in 2008 to the mainstay of the national senior team in 2012, he has come a long way since his junior days. A leading English daily read:

“Virat Kohli is the new India. Raring to win. Not willing to lose. Unabashed, undeterred, unfazed. That is how we’d like our next generation to be”

Wilshere, on the other hand, joined Arsenal’s youth academy in 2001 and helped Arsenal lift the FA Youth Cup in 2009. At 16 years 256 days, he made his senior league debut and earned £75 k a week, but didn’t let that get into his head. Kevin Blackwell, the rival manger who could hardly believe what he saw, said in his post- match conference,

“He was not fazed by being up against senior players, not fazed by a 60,000 crowd and not fazed by constantly finding the ball at his feet. It is every manager’s dream to have players so sure of themselves they want the ball under any circumstances and are able to pick the right pass and play it at the right pace.” 

In January, 2012, Kohli was fined 50 percent of his match fees, after he allegedly showed his ‘middle finger’ to a section of the crowd at the SCG. Kohli then took to his Twitter account to justify his act:

Wilshere, on the other hand likes to get on the wrong side of the law when it comes to scandals. For a 19- year old, he has had a few incidents off the field that he won’t be proud of. In June, 2011, Wilshere and a couple of  friends were involved in a nightclub incident in which a girl, apparently, broke her arm. A jury heard:

An angry young man

There comes a time in every young man’s life when he has to break out of his comfort zone and face the real world. For an athlete, it can be matter of few moments  for his career to take a 360 degree spiral for better or for worse. Luckily, for these two young warriors, those moments came in hard and early, probably determining their mettle and influencing their respective futures in a major way.

When it comes to assuming Kohli’s greatest moment with Indian Cricket, it seems like an easy job, doesn’t it? The U- 19 WC triumph, the 2011 WC success or the more recent 183-run knock against Pakistan – there are many options to choose from. But contrary to popular belief (or maybe I am tripping), Kohli’s defining moment was the morning next to the night when Kohli’s dad passed away:

How does a young boy react when his father, the man of the house, passes away? One expects a household in tatters, enduring the heartache of the passing away of a prominent member of the family. Virat’s family was no different when his bed- ridden father passed away in December 2006. And as luck would have it, he passed away in the middle of a crucial Ranji trophy tie against Karnataka. Kohli was the overnight batsman for Delhi and he was just taking his first steps in his debut Ranji season. Possessing the swagger of a kid, yet the professionalism of a seasoned athlete, Virat took the advice of his coach, missed his father’s funeral and went on to score a 90- run match saving innings. As his mother noted:

When it comes to Wilshere, the guy is 20 now, and was 19 when he played his first full season with the senior team at Arsenal. Barely a man in biological terms, one can say still he put in performances that made heads turn  in the whole footballing world. Wenger himself was mesmerized :

He was born on New Year’s Day in 1992, just eight months before the first Premier League season, yet he is already part of our football furniture. (When a man like Wenger says this, people tend to listen)

It shouldn’t be hard to choose that one moment in Wilshere’s small career. Despite the number of splendid performances he put in week- in, week- out last season, the one night that blows my mind  is the first leg of the 2010- 2011 Champions League quartefinal against Barcelona. Wilshere put in the shift of his life as he almost single-handedly pulled the strings against Barca’s glorious midfield trio - such was his range of passing, his courage in demanding the ball in tight spots, his confidence and sense of belonging. Normally, hype fixes itself on a young striker who announces himself with a rash of goals, or a zesty teenage winger who takes full-backs on. This time, though, praise was being stacked up for a young English conductor in the hardest position of all: a fresh face with the stock full of short and long link-play, balls round the corner and probing passes delivered on the run, like Steven Gerrard at his best. Post the match, a pundit was heard quoting:

Holding onto something from that glorious night

 He loves the Aston Martin, Ed Hardy shirts and is the only Indian cricketer with heavily tattooed arms (a Golden Dragon on his forearm is apparently for luck). He chats about sunburn parties in Goa and frequents clubs in Delhi’s GK-1. Safe to say, Kohli is Indian cricket’s latest sex- symbol. Still, he comes across as a guy who has his head right where it’s meant to be – between his shoulders. Taking nothing for granted, no off- field brawls, no scandals, doing things the supposed ‘right’ way. Possessing the diplomacy of a seasoned politician, he knows his way around things with his sharp talking skills:

What’s the mindset of a young 19- year old like? Passing out of school, trying to get into a good college, figuring out what to do with his life. But this post is not about random average teens. Wilshere (almost a kid himself) took the high road and went on to father a son. On the verge of breaking into the senior England side, and already flourishing at Arsenal, this surely meant added responsiblity for the boy. Keeping mum about his private life, his friend quoted,

 “Leadership is like gravity. You know it’s there, you know it exists, but how do you define it?”

Well, it seems Royal Challengers Bangalore‘s (Kohli’s IPL franchise) coach Ray Jennings has it all figured out:

Similarly, in Wilshere’s case, he has received the backing of players and supporters alike to wear the armband in the future. Former Arsenal great and captain Tony Adams once stated in an interview:

Personally, I think what further emphasizes their cases for captaincy is the passion, commitment and the driving force which oozes  out when these two are on the field.

Ecstatic Kohli after winning the 2011 WC