New Delhi: For a while, as Virat Kohli struggled in the middle on Tuesday, it looked as if Royal Challengers Bengaluru would be left to despair again in the IPL final. The run-rate wasn’t where they would have wanted it to be, Punjab Kings were putting on the clamps and RCB’s talisman was not able to get going. The wait, some dreaded with the RCB total on 125/3 after 14 overs, could continue.
The cruellest cut in sport is to be within touching distance of the ultimate prize and then not win it. For RCB, it had happened thrice already, in 2009, 2011 and 2016. On each occasion, the cameras had zoomed in on Kohli. The expressions were a mix of dejection, disbelief and desperation — each feeling perhaps a reflection of where Kohli’s career was at that point.
But this time, as the match wound to a close, Kohli could barely control the tears. When the final ball was bowled, he was on his knees and let it all out. Triumphs are sometimes defined by the wait; by how hard you have had to work for them; by how much the struggle changed you. This was the journey of a lifetime – for the club and the player.
When Kohli was asked where he would rank the achievement, his answer revealed that the quest tested him in many ways.
“It’s right up there, if I have to be honest,” said Kohli. “I’ve given everything that I had for the last 18 years. I’ve stayed loyal to this team, no matter what. I’ve had moments where I thought otherwise. I stood behind them, they stood behind me. And I always dreamt of winning it with them. This is far more special than winning it with anyone else because my heart is with Bangalore, my soul is with Bangalore.
“You know, as a sportsman, when you grind for something, and this is a very high intensity, high quality tournament, which is of great value in world cricket today. I’m someone that wants to win the big tournaments, the big moments, and this one was missing.”
The missing one
Roger Federer was the clear No. 2 on clay from 2006 to 2008 when he made three straight French Open finals. The only problem was that the man dominating the tournament, Rafa Nadal, was pretty much an insurmountable hurdle and had beaten Federer in all three including a 6–1, 6–3, 6–0 pounding in 2008. But then Robin Soderling produced an epic performance to beat the Spaniard, and the Swiss ace pounced on the opportunity.
“It meant a lot to me because it was the last Grand Slam that I was still missing. For me, I had won all the others by 2004, so I had to wait a good five, six years… So, of course, when I won it finally, on a rainy day here in Paris and I came through in the final, it was a beautiful moment,” Federer later said.
There are many other greats who will identify with the feeling. Having made his India debut in 1989, Sachin Tendulkar had to wait till 2011 to get his hands on a World Cup.
“In the end, what matters is that the trophy is sitting in your dressing room and not in the opposition’s dressing room, and that happened to us,” Tendulkar later said. “It was the ultimate feeling on the cricket field to take that victory lap as champions…”
Sometimes the wait is so long that one starts believing it isn’t meant to be. That is when resilience, a single-minded focus and luck make their presence felt.
India’s first individual Olympic gold was built on a manic approach by Abhinav Bindra; Andry Murray became the first British male to win Wimbledon in 77 years in 2013, but many will remember the Henmania inspired by Tim Henman as well. Henman didn’t find joy but his struggle inspired a generation.
For Blackburn fans, the wait to win the top-flight English football league lasted 81 years but few will top the Red Sox baseball team winning the World Series in 2004, 86 years after their previous title. It inspired jokes and there was even talk of the Curse of the Bambino as the team’s trophy drought started after they traded Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920.
Through it all, the fans, the teams and the players persist. The wait is excruciatingly painful but at the end of the day — as Kohli and RCB will attest — that is what makes the victory taste sweeter still.
