Watch: Virat Kohli recalls how he went emotionless after 2011 World Cup triumph

"I pushed myself to cry because everyone was crying" reveals Kohli.

Yuvraj Singh was seen crying after winning the 2011 World Cup | Getty

The 2011 World Cup triumph will always be etched in the memories of today’s Indian cricketers and fans.  It was India’s second World Cup victory after 28 years and was also the ultimate crown in the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s illustrious cricketing career.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and left-handed opening batsman Gautam Gambhir were the heroes in the final as they scored 91* and 97 respectively while chasing Sri Lanka’s stiff target of 275. Soon after Dhoni hit the winning six off Nuwan Kulasekara, majority of the Indian players went numb with some of them even shedding tears at the Wankhede.

However, for the current India skipper Virat Kohli, it was not that much of an emotional moment. Kohli, who was in his early 20s back then, recently recalled that historic night while featuring in an All India Bakchod (AIB) video titled ‘Behind The Stumps’.

“I didn’t feel as emotional as other guys because it was my first World Cup. I saw the emotions in the eyes of the guys that hadn’t won it for five World Cups. Sachin hadn’t done it. Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh), Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh), Zack (Zaheer Khan), everyone was emotional. MS was emotional because he led his idols to World Cup win. I didn’t have any of those emotions. I pushed myself to like cry because everyone was crying,” Kohli quoted in the show.

The Indian captain also opened up about the infamous ‘middle finger’ incident from the 2011-12 Australia tour. Virat confessed the gesture had come out of frustration as he was making low scores in that series.

“I still remember. It came out of frustration. After that incident, match referee called me and asked what happened. I said nothing. Then he showed me the photograph of my gesture in the newspaper and I said I am sorry. After that incident, Australians had cameras everywhere we went. And once someone said something nasty to Ishant, he flicked fingers too,” Kohli revealed.

Virat appeared in the show along with his RCB teammates AB de Villiers and Yuzvendra Chahal. He was in all praise of de Villiers and shared an interesting story highlighting the Proteas batting genius’ ardent fan following in India.

“There was one game in Mumbai and once de Villiers came out to bat, crowd started chanting ‘AB, AB’. This really irked Rohit, who is from Mumbai. He was like what is this. More than 50 thousand voices were chanting AB’s name that day,” Kohli disclosed.

Here’s the video:

 

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 06 May, 2018

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