Virat Kohli was recently part of the CNN-News18 Indian of the Year 2017 Award function and he was asked a question by Manushi Chhillar, the newly crowned Miss World about how as a youth icon he had helped children.
It’s nearly been a decade since Virat Kohli made his international debut and if there’s one thing he has been consistent at, it’s his ability to score big run. While a number of records have been set and broken, his aggressive outlook has also injected a sense of belief in the side.
While there are quite a few fans and followers who look up to him for inspiration, at an awards show recently, he met yet another youth icon who had a special question for the swashbuckling Indian skipper.
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It came from Manushi Chhillar, the newly crowned Miss World, who brought back the title to India after 17 years. The two shared the stage at the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2017 Awards night and Chhillar took up the opportunity to ask Kohli: “You are one of the best batsman in the world today and you’ve been such an inspiration. You’ve really given back to the society. But there are a lot of young people who draw inspiration from you. How would you like to give back for children, especially in the world of cricket?”
The Indian cricket team skipper replied: “Well, what’s very important to understand is when you do what you do and you express yourself on the field, it has to be genuine and it has to be from the heart. Otherwise if people find out that you’re trying to pretend, then they can never connect to you. I’ve never tried to be anyone else. I’ve always been myself; I always mention that people had a lot of issues with how I was, how I conducted myself, but I had never had any problems with that.”
Kohli had presented Chillar with a special achievement award as well. “The moment I started to think that I need to change, is the only time I changed. Everyone has to go through a mutual process to be where they get to in life to become more mature. What’s very important to understand is one should never lose their own identity, character and personality because if you try to be someone else you can never succeed, and you can never inspire others.
The one thing that I believe in is that there’s something much stronger that’s making us do what we do. We ourselves don’t have the ability to go out there, score runs and take wickets all the time. We must believe that everyone has a plan and that plan has been executed for them at the time they are in, and all they can do is work hard, no one can change the plan, what we can do is work hard and be honest with ourselves.”
