Virat Kohli’s tenure as captain of India’s Test team brought with it higher standards and expectations, particularly when the team was touring SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) nations. In those tough conditions, the Indian team was expected to be more competitive. Kohli helped India to a first series win in Australia in 2018-19, but the lead-up to that was a difficult one as they lost in England 1-4 in the summer of 2018.
Actor Varun Dhawan provided a look into the psyche of Kohli during that series, reflecting on what he had heard about the then-Indian captain’s reaction to the difficulty of that 2018 series from Kohli’s wife, actor Anushka Sharma.
Speaking on Ranveer Allahbadia’s podcast, ‘The Ranveer Show’, Dhawan explained: “Virat, I mean, everything he’s been through, the times he’s not been in good form, some insights that Anushka shared with me, about his mindset.”
“I think it was a Nottingham Test,” added Dhawan. “Where India had lost, and she said she didn’t attend that game that day. She came back, she didn’t know where Virat was, and she came to the room and saw him laid down, literally crying.”
‘He took the whole thing on himself…’
While Dhawan likely got his Test matches mixed up, with the Trent Bridge match being the only one of the series India won, the difficulty of the other losses remained. Dhawan continued: “How he took the whole thing on himself, like I failed, when he was still the highest scorer that day. He was the captain of the side.”
Dhawan, who starred with Anushka Sharma in the 2018 film Sui Dhaaga before her hiatus from Bollywood over the last few years, is likely remembering the Edgbaston Test in Birmingham that opened that series. Kohli scored 149 in the first innings and followed that up with a top-scoring 51 in the chase, where India fell agonisingly short by 31 runs.
Kohli would go on to have success in England during the 2021 tour, where he helped India to a 2-1 lead in the first four Test matches of the series with memorable wins at the Oval and in Lord’s. However, the final match of that series was postponed due to a Covid outbreak, and by the time India returned to England to complete that match, Kohli had been asked to step aside as captain. India went on to suffer a loss and leave England with a drawn series in the record books.
Kohli will return to action for India in the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, having gotten away with a rain-affected draw at the Gabba to leave the series level at 1-1 after three Tests.
