When Kohli’s dad refused to pay bribe for his selection

On the Instagram live chat show Eleven On Ten hosted by Chhetri, Kohli recounted an incident from his junior days when he was not selected in the team after his father refused to offer bribe for the same.

“In my home State (Delhi), sometimes things happen which are not fair. On one occasion, a certain someone did not play by the rules when it came to selection criteria,” said Kohli.

“He told my father that while I had the merit to be selected, a little extra (possibly a bribe) was needed to confirm my selection. My father — an honest middle-class man who had worked hard all his life to become a successful lawyer — did not even understand what ‘little extra’ meant. My father simply said, ‘If you want to select Virat, then let it be purely on merit. I will give you nothing extra’.

“I didn’t get selected. I cried a lot; I was broken. But that incident taught me a lot. I realised that I had to be extraordinary to become successful, and that I had to achieve this purely through my own effort and hard work. My father showed me the right way, through action and not merely words,” said Kohli

Kohli also revealed that despite the tragedy of losing his father, he became even more motivated after his death to pursue his cricket dream.

“I accepted his death, as I was focused on moving forward with my career.

“In fact, I went and batted in a Ranji Trophy match the day after he died. His death made me realise that I had to make something of my life. I think about how nice it would be if I could have given my father the peaceful retired life that he deserved. At times, I get emotional thinking about him,” Kohli said.