Actor-producer Anushka Sharma, wife of former India captain Virat Kohli, was as nervous as her husband before his first Test innings of India’s tour of England 2018. Present in Birmingham on the second day of first Test, Sharma rejoiced when Kohli scored his 22nd Test century to prove doubters wrong with respect to his Test ability in this part of the world.
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Kohli, who was playing a Test match in England after a four-year gap, was not only leading the team but also playing his first match since a personal disastrous tour of England 2014. In what was his maiden Test tour of England, Kohli had scored 134 runs across 10 innings at an average of 13.4.
Having scored a large number of runs across formats and conditions for a decade, Kohli was facing questions aplenty ahead of the first match. Kohli, who admitted to have adjusted better to the conditions on the back of six white-ball innings in the lead-up to a five-match Test series, proved his critics wrong by scoring his maiden Test century in England in the first innings itself that year.
Anushka Sharma was on tenterhooks before Virat Kohli’s 149 innings at Edgbaston
Speaking to Danish Sait on RCB Podcast, Kohli explained how both himself and his wife were on tenterhooks in anticipation of the innings. From facing flashbacks of 2014 in the dressing room to facing James Anderson first up, Kohli disclosed how his second Test century of 2018 hadn’t come under the easiest of circumstances.
“I clearly remember before going to bat in that first innings, my heart was racing. Because all I could think of [were] flashes of 2014 coming to me again and again. Then the next wicket [KL Rahul] falls, I was just trying to control my heart rate,” Kohli said on RCB Podcast.
“[30,000-35000 spectators at Edgbaston] They all started booeing me when I walked in. My heart started beating faster and they have this ability to create an environment where you feel ‘I have got no chance here’.”
Kohli, who left alone a typical fourth-stump Anderson delivery to kick-start his innings, ended up scoring a magnificent 149 (225) to earn applause from Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, someone he had sought help from after 2014 tour. Kohli, 29 then, also discussed how the situation could’ve been entirely different had Dawid Malan not dropped him on 21*.
“I came back to the room. I was a bit emotional. Anushka was there. She also got a bit emotional. She was feeling very happy for me because she understood being in the stadium, after a build-up of four years and watching that moment. She was like ‘My heart was racing’. We were both very happy. Went out for a nice dinner. It was like so much weight was lifted off my shoulders,” Kohli recalled the evening of Day 2.
In what was Kohli’s third and last Player of the Series award in Test matches, he had finished the series as the highest run-scorer on the back of amassing 593 runs across 10 innings at an average of 59.30 including two centuries and three-half-centuries.
Virat Kohli considers meeting Anushka Sharma as life-changing moment
Expressing emotions is one of the easily seen traits of Kohli’s personality. The right-handed batter doesn’t put any restriction to that trait especially whilst talking highly about his wife. Kohli, who considers Anushka to be his “biggest source of strength”, has credited her for many things in life on various occasions.
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) January 14, 2023
Kohli, who had left behind a lean patch in limited-overs cricket on the back of scoring his 71st international century (first in T20Is) against Afghanistan during Asia Cup 2022, had dedicated the knock to her for seeing his “absolute raw side” during a rough professional phase.
“I saw a different side of life [after meeting Anushka]. It wasn’t similar to my environment. It was a different perspective. When you are in love with the person you are with, you start processing the changes within you as well because you have to move together. To do that, you have to accept a lot of things and that, for me, was life-changing,” Kohli said later on the podcast.
