Indian Test captain Virat Kohli’s fans were in a big surprise when they got an opportunity to ask candid and personal questions to the star cricketer. Virat played the game ‘Never Have I Ever…’ with the members of the Virat Fanbox, Virat’s exclusive fan club launched in April 2016 in partnership with PrivyPlex.

The questions varied from, how many tattoos Virat has, to the places he has not visited. And quite a few unknown secrets were revealed by the star cricketer.

Yes that’s right. Virat Kohli has never been to Switzerland, never visited Vaishno Devi and this is the biggest secret of them all – the India Test captain is yet to see the Taj Mahal. No, not even once even on his school trip or even with ladylove Anushka Sharma.  

Here are a few more interesting unknown facts; Virat has eight tattoos in his body right now, his dressing room nickname is Cheeku and at home he’s called Veeru.

The star cricketer revealed all this in Gurgaon during a candid interaction with Virat FanBox members; an exclusive fan club launched in April 2016 in partnership with PrivyPlex. He will also be meeting more of his fans in other cities soon.

Virat Kohli with a fan

Here’s the full transcript of Virat Kohli’s interaction with his fans:

What is Virat’s nickname?

My nickname given to me by my teammates is Cheeku. But, at home my family has given me too many nicknames. You know how it is, your mum would call you something and then your brother and sister would call you something else. But yes, they call me Veeru at home mostly. I have some 50-60 names. Whatever comes to their mind and heart, but mostly, Veeru.

During your tough times, who was the most encouraging person in your life?

Before playing for the country, obviously my family has always been supporting me. My brother and my father used to be involved in my practices. They would take me to my practice every day. My coach has been a big support. I have been practicing with the same coach since I was eight. He has always been there for me. So these three people I think, my coach, my brother and my father are the ones who have always stood by me in my tough times and good times also.

How many tattoos does Virat have?

Eight. Because the tattoos on my left hand are not connected yet. But once everything is done, then it would become three.

After you lose a game, what motivates you to go back and play the game again?

I hate losing. It’s difficult to take losses but I sit down and think about where we lost the game. Obviously you don’t play that badly that you’re completely outplayed or beaten. So you need to understand where you went wrong and how badly did you play. Say, if it’s an IPL game or a T20 game. You need to understand what overs you played badly obviously it can’t be the entire game.

And then you can work on those overs or balls and come back the next time and try to correct those mistakes. Mistakes are going to happen. But then it’s about how much time you have, in between those mistakes. They shouldn’t be repetitive and they should be improving with every game. This is what we look for. We look for mistakes and the try to improve upon them.

He also played the game ‘Never Have I Ever’ with his fans, few excerpts:

1.Never have I ever been to Switzerland.

2. Never have I ever been to Vaishno Devi. Although as a North Indian, it’s not very common to not go to Vaishno Devi. But I have not got a chance to go there yet.

3. When a fan said, “Never have I ever drove an Audi R8.” Virat answered, “I just sold mine a few days back. Maybe you can leave your number and I will take you out for a drive when I get another one.”

Having watched cricket all my life, I find no reasons to follow the game religiously the way I used to. Too much cricket, watched enough for an entire lifetime already; no longer part of a news set-up so no need to follow the game; players of today’s generation are not like a Rahul Dravid or a Sachin Tendulkar.

But along comes a player every now and then, who makes you want him to do well, makes you switch off the TV set once he gets out, makes you spend hours watching the game you thought you had fallen out with.

Kannaur Lokesh Rahul’s batting and the way he carries himself makes you do just that. The technique and time he has while playing against the fast bowlers, the innovation he has added to his batting while playing the shorter format of the game, his ground fielding and wicket keeping ability has all added to his charisma. His Test average of only 25.69 may not do justice to Rahul’s immense batting talent, but he showed enough class and poise while scoring his first Test hundred in just the second Test match of his life.

He returns from Zimbabwe as India’s best batsman with scores of 100, 33, 63, 0, 47, 22 in the ODIs and T20s. And in all likelihood could retain his Team India place in the limited overs game.

Centuries for KL Rahul in both Test and ODI

Most deserving youngster to make the grade

You also take heart from the fact that his selection to the Test squad was not because of any fluke performance in the IPL, though he did have a decent IPL season playing for Pune Sunrisers in 2014. His selection was mainly due to some outstanding batting in the domestic circuit.

In the 2013-14 Ranji Trophy, the Karnataka batsman topped the batting charts for his side by scoring more than 1000 runs and was also declared the Man of the Match in the final. Rahul played a big part in winning the Ranji Trophy title that season for Karnataka. He didn’t stop there. In the Duleep Trophy final the same year playing for South Zone against the Central Zone, Rahul scored centuries in both the innings – 185 off 233 in the first and 130 off 152 in the second. No selection committee could have ignored such sheer numbers so he got to make his Test debut at the age of 22.

Domestic performances getting rewarded will go a long way in motivating aspiring cricketers and giving life to the neglected Ranji Trophy.

After coming back from the Australian tour, Rahul went onto score a historic triple century (337), the first Karnataka batsman to achieve the feat in Ranji Trophy. His feat was later replicated by teammate Karun Nair, who scored 328 against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy final next year.

The Making of KL Rahul

Rahul has gone for a complete makeover. And I’m not talking about his long hair and beard look. Not so long back he was dismissed as a Test specialist only but success in the IPL this year and now a century on ODI debut against Zimbabwe (the first Indian to do so) has added a new dimension to India’s batting.

His IPL success and love for tattoos (he now sports seven tattoos) have added to his fan following. And tweets like these are making new fans join the ranks each day – 
@rahulkl“My body is my journal ,and My tattoos are my story “

Not only cricket, Rahul is a sports fan

Rahul played other sports while growing up and he has kept the interest going as you can clearly see from his tweeted pictures.

KL Rahul playing tennis & football

No doubt he has all the credentials to be a crowd puller off the field, like his Test and IPL captain Virat Kohli. And now with a century on his one-day international debut – there’s no stopping this young man from Karnataka. No doubt he will have to show consistency, curb his strokes at beginning of an innings. But with age on his side and the ability to adapt to all three formats, it will be well worth watching Rahul’s cricketing journey.

By Rajesh Sahu

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