Virat will continue to provide scholarships in sports and also sponsor athletes, and Anushka will continue to be involved with animal welfare as she has over the years…reports Asian Lite News
Star couple Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli have decided to merge their respective foundations – Anushka Sharma Foundation and Virat Kohli Foundation – to launch a joint non-profit initiative aimed at helping those in need.
Anushka and Virat said in a joint statement: “In the words of Kahlil Gibran, ‘For in truth it is life that gives unto life – while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness’. With this sentiment in mind, we have decided to work together through SeVVA aiming to reach out to as many people as possible.”
“SeVVA’s work won’t be confined to a particular issue as it will continue to strive for social good by championing humanity which is the need of the hour today.”
Meanwhile, Virat will continue to provide scholarships in sports and also sponsor athletes, and Anushka will continue to be involved with animal welfare as she has over the years.
Also, the two of them, through SeVVA, will be on the lookout to aid areas of concern that benefits society at large.
Friday’s Test match against Sri Lanka at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium will make Kohli the 12th Indian and 71st cricketer overall to achieve the landmark…reports Asian Lite News
Senior India batter Virat Kohli said he had never thought that he would play 100 Test matches for India in a long journey of playing the longest format of the game.
Kohli made his Test debut against the West Indies in 2011, making just 4 and 15. But the low-key debut paved the path for achieving 7962 runs in 99 matches at an average of 50.39, including seven double centuries.
“I honestly never thought I would play 100 Test matches. It’s been a long journey. We played a lot of cricket over the course of playing these 100 Test matches. A lot of international cricket. I am just grateful that I’ve been able to make it to 100. God has been kind. I have worked really hard for my fitness. It’s a big moment for me, for my family, for my coach, who is also very happy and very proud of this Test match as long as I am concerned. It’s a very, very special moment,” said Kohli in a video posted by BCCI on their Twitter handle on Thursday.
Friday’s Test match against Sri Lanka at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium will make Kohli the 12th Indian and 71st cricketer overall to achieve the landmark. From an Indian perspective, Kohli joins an elite list featuring Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma to play 100 Tests for the country.
“I personally never grew up thinking that I have to score small runs. The idea was to score huge runs. I scored a lot of big double hundreds in junior cricket, I think seven to eight before reaching first-class level. My idea was to basically bat as long as I could and I enjoyed batting for long periods of time, bat sessions and try to win a game of cricket for my team, either a first-innings lead or two points according to the format.”
For Kohli’s 100th Test match, 50% crowd will be allowed inside the stadium, giving fans a good chance to celebrate the achievement. “These things really took a lot out of you and it revealed as well as tested your true character, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Test cricket needed to stay alive because people need to experience this. This is for me real cricket,” concluded Kohli.
New captaincy policy could be a cultural Issue for India
The appointment of Rohit Sharma as the limited-overs cricket captain and Virat Kohli for Test matches is an interesting concept being finally adopted by India…writes Yajurvindra Singh
England and Australia have been able to do so quite successfully. However, their culture and way of living are quite different from the Indian way of thinking and behaviour pattern.
India has historically been a country where one respects and follows a ruler or a leader. The joint-family tradition maybe dwindling gradually, but, the head of the family is still the autocratic and authoritative head as far as religious and other functions are concerned.
New captaincy policy could be a cultural Issue for India
The famous words “we are like this only” is particularly apt for the Indians. India has thrived under great leaders in every sphere of its existence. The issues that have over centuries been created and been unsuccessful have only cropped up when a powerful leader was missing. India may be the largest democracy in the world, but one has seen progress only when it is led by a strong and vibrant leader.
Indian cricket has also gone in a similar vein as regards the captaincy. The pre-Independence and the decade after did not have an established captain. The 60s was when Nawab Mansur Ali Khan of Pataudi was given the reins that India finally had a powerful leader at the helm.
He led India for over a decade and because of it, he could establish systems, strategies as well as identify skilled players to form a constructive Indian unit. He always said that getting an Indian team together and making them focused and mentally prepared was his biggest challenge.
The variables that India faces due to diversity of religions, customs, languages, social status and innumerable other cultural differences makes an Indian cricket side a difficult side to blend together. In the last two decades, Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, from two diverse cultural upbringings did manage to break this barrier to a certain extent.
The Zonal divide and cultural differences that had crept into Indian cricket were fortunately buried under these two powerful captains. Both of them were strong individuals who managed this transformation because they could get the support from their fellow cricketers and the management as well.
This reminds me of a famous discussion at a TCS event between the now head of the Tata Empire, N. Chandrasekaran and Rahul Dravid. Chandra, as he is popularly called, asked Dravid as to how he managed to effectively lead an Indian side with players from different parts of India and as to how he managed to communicate with them.
The astute Dravid had a ready reply and said, “Chandra, I just have to look after 11 cricketers on the field, but you have 350,000 people working at TCS and therefore, I should be asking you as how you do it.” Here were two individuals respected, proven and accomplished leaders in their field and they showed that they were still uncertain about tackling major diversity issues that still haunt India.
This brings one back to the present situation of the Indian side being led by two individuals in the two different formats of the game. In the recent past, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble did relinquish their captaincy but they did so entirely and played all the formats as players. They became the mentors and wisdom bearers of the side and ones whom colleagues could interact with freely and honestly.
Cricket played in any format is a team game. A leader or a captain has his likes and dislikes. This is inevitable in all walks of life. In India, to have two leaders will always have that element of doubt in the minds of the players. This may lead to two distinct camps of pros and cons regarding Rohit and Virat. Nearly 80 per cent of the side is players who play both the formats of the game and so the loyalty factor will come very strongly into force.
Both Rohit and Virat have different personalities and the way they perceive leading the team. This is where a strong leader normally establishes his thought process and approach towards the game. How this will turn out in the long run for Indian cricket is a million-dollar question.
Virat Kohli’s stepping down from captaining the T20 team was to enable him to concentrate better as a leader in the One-day internationals as well as in Test matches. Being eased out of captaining the ODIs, one felt, was not in his itinerary, especially, with the World Cup coming up in 2023.
Although Kohli relishes and is the biggest promoter of Test cricket, the long-drawn format is not one with the glamorous quotient attached to it. He may gradually fade away as a leader in the eyes of the millions of Indian cricket followers and lose the aggressive and assertive nature one identifies him with.
The bio-secure bubble that has been enforced due to the Covid Omicron virus threat for teams to be confined in, may not be the ideal solution for the captaincy changes of the Indian side.
Rahul Dravid, the Indian coach, has a very tricky and important task on hand. One hopes he did finally get the correct solution and reply as to how to marry the many diverse and cultural issues that may arise from the successful Tata leader, N.Chandrasekaran.
The 34-year old Rohit, who was already appointed as T20I captain last month, on Wednesday replaced Kohli as India’s new ODI skipper…reports Asian Lite News
A day after replacing him with Rohit Sharma as India’s ODI captain, the BCCI on Thursday thanked Virat Kohli for leading the team with “grit, passion and determination” during his four year tenure.
The 34-year old Rohit, who was already appointed as T20I captain last month, on Wednesday replaced Kohli as India’s new ODI skipper.
BCCI thanks Virat Kohli
“A leader who led the side with grit, passion & determination. Thank you Captain @imVkohli!” the board tweeted along with the picture featuring Kohli’s captaincy stats in the 50-over format.
Kohli, who took over limited-overs captaincy from MS Dhoni in 2017, has been one of India’s most successful white-ball captains. In 95 ODIs, he won 65, giving him an admirable winning percentage of 70-plus. In 45 T20Is, he led India to victory 27 times.
The star batter relinquished T20 captaincy at the end of the 2021 T20 World Cup where India failed to reach the knockout stages.
Sharma has been Kohli’s longstanding deputy in white ball cricket and his first assignment as India’s limited overs captain was the recent three-match T20 series against New Zealand at home last month, which the team won 3-0.
He will now lead India in the South Africa ODI series, the squad for which is yet to be announced.
Vamika was born on January 11. Anushka and Virat, who are fondly called as Virushka by their fans, had tied the knot in December 2017 in Tuscany, Italy…reports Asian Lite News.
People are very excited to know the daily life of star couples like Virat and Anushka. Their daughter Vamika is now six months old. The Bollywood actress says her one smile can change the whole world around.
Anushka has shared two pictures on Instagram. The first picture sees Anushka playing with Vamika while the second image has Virat holding their daughter and smiling.
(Photo: Anushka/Insta)
“Her one smile can change our whole world around !I hope we can both live up to the love with which you look at us, little one Happy 6 months to us three,” Anushka wrote alongside the image.
Vamika was born on January 11. Anushka and Virat, who are fondly called as Virushka by their fans, had tied the knot in December 2017 in Tuscany, Italy.
The actress has two films in the pipeline. She will be seen in Navdeep Singh’s “Kaneda”, and a biopic of cricketer Jhulan Goswami.
The actress was last seen in the film “Zero” in 2018. She produced the web series “Paatal Lok” and the film “Bulbbul” for OTT last year.
