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Virat Kohli Net Worth : दुनिया में सबसे ज्यादा कमाई करने वाले क्रिकेटर
Virat Kohli Net Worth: प्रतिष्ठित भारतीय क्रिकेटर विराट कोहली ने क्रिकेट की दुनिया में अपने लिए एक उल्लेखनीय जगह बनाई है। अपनी असाधारण बल्लेबाजी क्षमता, अटूट दृढ़ संकल्प और करिश्माई व्यक्तित्व के लिए जाने जाने वाले कोहली न केवल दुनिया में सबसे ज्यादा कमाई करने वाले क्रिकेटर बन गए हैं, बल्कि सबसे प्रसिद्ध और प्रभावशाली खेल हस्तियों में से एक भी बन गए हैं। एक युवा क्रिकेट प्रेमी से अंतरराष्ट्रीय…
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#anushka sharma virat kohli#autobiography of virat kohli#centuries of virat kohli#cricket virat#cricket virat kohli#instagram of virat kohli#instagram virat kohli#king kohli#kohli cricket#kohli virat#kohlis#odi centuries of virat kohli#rohit sharma virat kohli#saroj kohli#total centuries of virat kohli#v kohli#vamika kohli#vikas kohli#virat#virat kohli#virat kohli 100 in odi#virat kohli kohli#Virat Kohli Net Worth#virat kohli virat kohli
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This is what Ishan was feeling. This. But despite seeing it happen to so many people including Virat the audience still remained to unsee the struggles of mental health.
At the end of the day, the society would never respect fragility and the essence of understanding others. Today the idea of being emotionless is mistaken as being strong. When the real strength lies in embracing all such emotions that make us more human.
The Art of Empathy which should be common to all has become a boon to only limited people.
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#desiblr#indian cricket team#ishan kishan#cricket#ishman#shubmangill#shubman gill#shubish#shubman x ishan#viratfans#viratkohli#virat kohli#mental health#Instagram
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something about this picture - their faces, the like hope on joes steve’s solemn one - touches my heart
#cricket#cricfam#cricketfandom#cricketslash#joe root#steve smith#virat kohli#kane williamson#fab 4#Instagram
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Love is Respect: Empowering Relationships with Virat Kohli and Sushmita Sen
Love is Respect: The Message of Equality and Empowerment
The latest Wrogn campaign, Love is Respect, starring Virat Kohli and Sushmita Sen, serves as a powerful reminder that love is incomplete without respect. Kohli, a sporting icon, speaks to the evolving behavior of men who increasingly treat women with equality, reminding us that relationships thrive when respect walks hand in hand with love.
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This campaign transcends mere advertisements by addressing a deeply important societal issue. It highlights how simple gestures—like sharing responsibilities, being kind, and acknowledging your partner’s worth—are vital in showing respect. Virat Kohli himself reflects on his personal journey, remarking, “You can’t hurt a person and then expect love in return.” His statement resonates deeply, capturing the essence of mutual respect in relationships.
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With her grace, Sushmita Sen echoes this sentiment, stating, “Respect is love in action. Loving a woman is respecting her choices.”
Real-Life Examples of Respect and Love
Jackie Shroff and Ayesha Shroff have been an inspiring couple for decades. Their relationship has been based on mutual respect, with Jackie often crediting Ayesha for being his constant support system through thick and thin. Their partnership reflects a balance of admiration and respect, proving that the foundation of their love is trust and equality.
Similarly, Suniel Shetty and his wife Mana Shetty have shared a strong bond for over two decades, rooted in mutual respect. Suniel frequently expresses his gratitude for Mana’s role in his life, describing her as his rock. They’ve built an empire together, but more importantly, they’ve built a family on values of love and respect.
A globally admired couple, Barack and Michelle Obama, epitomize how mutual respect can uplift a relationship. Michelle often speaks about how Barack supported her through her career and personal growth, allowing both of them to flourish individually and as a couple. Their relationship highlights the importance of respect as the foundation of lasting love.
Another inspiring tale is of Indian cricketer MS Dhoni, who frequently acknowledges how his wife Sakshi’s support and wisdom have been crucial to his success. His open admiration for her is not just about love; it’s about respecting her contributions to his life both professionally and personally.
Take, for example, a story from Mumbai, where a husband and wife started a business together after losing their jobs during the pandemic. What made their partnership strong wasn't just love, but the deep respect they showed for each other's ideas and hard work. This respect was key to their success, as they navigated challenges together, proving that love truly thrives when respect is at its core.
Love and Respect – The Fairy Dust in any relationship!
Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Michelle Obama: “When they go low, we go high.” This quote signifies that respect and love require us to rise above pettiness in relationships, staying grounded in compassion.
Why Does This Campaign Matter?
In a world where quick judgments and insensitivity often take over, campaigns like Love is Respect remind us that love and respect should form the foundation of all relationships. These values are not just to be admired but practiced in daily life. Whether it’s your partner, a friend, or a colleague, respect in action speaks louder than words.
Join the conversation, and let’s celebrate the Right Kind of Man, the ones who champion respect in every relationship. Together, we can inspire a wave of change, one respectful act at a time.
Let's drive positive change, one story at a time! Share yours now!
#life#life quotes#motivation#love#respect#loveisrespect#grow old with me#grow old with you#togetherness#trust#relationship goals#virat kohli#barack obama#michelle obama#suniel shetty#jackie shroff#anushka sharma#sushmita sen#inspiration#maya angelou#personal growth#self development#life lessons#Youtube#Instagram
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HAPPY RETIREMENT CHAMPIONS 🏆 🥇
@indiancricketteam @icc
@t20worldcup @cricketworldcup
@icchindiofficial @virat.kohli
@rohitsharma45
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#t20worldcup ##t20worldcup2024 #indvssa #rohitsharma #viratkohli #viratkohli #rohitsharma
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Take a look at the top 5 athletes with the highest Instagram followers.
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Mathematics of IPL 2024: Lucknow remains at number-4 even after losing, today CSK can return to top-3
Mathematics of IPL 2024: 44 matches of the 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have ended. 2 matches were played on Saturday. Delhi Capitals defeated Mumbai Indians by 10 runs in the first match. In the second match, Lucknow Supergiants were defeated by Rajasthan Royals by 7 wickets. After Saturday’s results, Rajasthan remains on the top, while Lucknow also remains in the top-4. On…
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#dc vs mi#gt vs rcb#ipl 2024#IPL Point table#ipl point table Images#ipl point table news#ipl point table on instagram#Jasprit Bumrah#LSG VS SRH#MI vs DC#newsxpressng#Orange Cap#Point table#purple cap#rcb vs gt#Virat kohli
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Inside Anushka Sharma's South Indian Feast With Husband Virat Kohli - See Pics
Anushka Sharma’s love for South Indian cuisine is no longer a secret. The actress would never miss a chance to relish the classic regional delicacies. And, it came as no surprise that her Saturday binge was all about it. Anushka along with husband, cricketer Virat Kohli and her parents, visited a South India restaurant in Bengaluru. And keeping up with her tradtion, she shared glimpses of it all…
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#anushka sharma#anushka sharma instagram#anushka sharma virat kohli#dosa and chutney#kesar bath#kesar halwa#paniyaram recipe#puddu#south indian food#virat kohli
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Anushka Sharma | anushka sharma baby | virat kohli anushka sharma | anushka sharma instagram | virat kohli | Entertainment News
Whose memory of Anushka Sharma being persecuted, posted Hint; Who if not Virat! Anushka Sharma recalled her time in the mountains, the #FlashbackFriday post of Actress Share Image Source: ANUSHKA SHARMAAnushka Sharma Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma and her cricketer husband Virat Kohli are the known names of the country। Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli remain very active on social media। It is…
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#Anushka Sharma#anushka sharma baby#anushka sharma instagram#Entertainment news.#Virat Kohli#virat kohli anushka sharma
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Shubman Gill, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ishaan Kishan recreate a scene from Roadies that is truly unmissable; Watch
Indian cricketers Ꮪhubman Gill, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Ishaan Kishan have always made headlines owing to their exceptional game on the field. However, their interesting social media posts also keep their fans and followers hooked on their personal and professional lives. The trio recently joined hands to recreate a scene from Roadies and left the netizens in splits. Yesterday, February 2, Ꮪhubman Gill took to his social media handle and dropped a video with Yuzvendra Chahal and Ishaan Kishan. Shubman played a contestant who was badly bashed during his audition, while Ishan portrayed the role of Roadies judge Nikhil Chinapa who mimics a gorilla in their hotel room and Yuzvendra portrayed another judge Raghu Ram.
In this clip, we see Yuzvendra Chahal, Shubman, and Ishaan sitting in their hotel room and wearing their jersey. The video starts with Chahal saying, "Now you have pissed me." Ishaan angrily stands up from the chair and asks Shubman to show intensity and passion. Reacting to it, Shubman emotionally tells him, “I have that intensity. I have that passion. I will make it, I will definitely make it.” To this, Ishan mimics a gorilla pose, in an attempt to copy Nikhil from the episode and jumps on the bed. Ishaan then asks Shubman to slap himself and as Shubman does it, it is seen that Ishaan also slaps him during their act and again asks him to repeat it. The two walk away with Ishan saying, “Better.” Sharing this clip, Ꮪhubman wrote, "Roadies reloaded via recreating our favourite moment."
#shubman gill instagram#Shubman Gill latest news#Shubman Gill Yuzvendra Chahal and Ishaan Kishan#Shubman Gill Yuzvendra Chahal and Ishaan Kishan Recreate the Scene in Roadies#the video of Shubman Click Here#Varun Sood#Virat Kohli was taken aback by gazing at the crowd#Yuzvendra Chahal#Yuzvendra Chahal and Ishaan Kishan
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Virat Kohli's 'Aapka dil janata hai way' Instagram update leaves fans in a tizzy Cricket
Virat Kohli is enjoying his time away from the cricket field to the fullest. Ahead of the all-important Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, the former captain is spending time in Uttarakhand with his wife Anushka Sharma and daughter Vamika. He was earlier spotted at an ashram in Rishikesh. On Wednesday, he shared pictures of the trek through the jungle on Instagram. The brilliant…
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King Kohli and Kat😍🔥
𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐔𝐬: http://id247news.com
#id247news#cricket#katrinakaif#viratkohli#news#latest#bollywood#breakingnews#google#mostsearched#viral#trending#reels#virat#kohli#instagram#kingkohli#kat#bollywoodhot#bollywoodsongs#bollywoodboycott
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You know what first I thought I wouldn't say anything regarding the ishman matter on Twitter but now it's necessary. People who ship ishman just write stories on wattpad, are true fans of them, cheer during their matches and make reels on Instagram, none of which truly affects their game or concentration unlike the "Sara chants" which btw even RR's official handle had tweeted to tell them to stop but Jugnu doesn't have a problem with that he just has a problems with people adoring the ishman bond and shipping them. In his tweet he didn't even defend ishan just said how we would feel if anybody said a wrong or bad thing to us. Basically he called people being in a same sex relationship as wrong or bad. It's not about ishman anymore its about the rights of the LGBTQIA community. Does he know how much the community has suffered for years ? How much they fought to get even the basic human rights ? And he just called their existence wrong. If virat kohli doesn't have a problem, if ishan who himself likes ishman reels doesn't have a problem, if Raj bhai doesn't have a problem then who the hell is he to have a problem ?? Shubman himself has liked ishman stuff in past and he never minds, the gt and mi admins don't have a problem then why the hell is he having a problem ? Just a typical homophobic mindset. He himself does nothing except for following shubman around have we ever see ishan's friends doing that ? All of them have their own career and are just supportive. He due to riding shubman's coattails of success is in the limelight amd thus his opinion matters to the fans of shubman and many of them even from the LGBTQIA community. He just broke the self confidence of those people and they already struggle accepting themselves due to the society. He painted his tweet as if even the implication of liking the same sex is wrong and what a cheap and lowlife mindset is that ? He said grow up in his tweet and I for one think that he should grow up because this is the 21st century and people of the LGBTQIA community have the right to exist. Why does he never say anything to the "Sara" chants ? The one which you know actually distracts the players ? People are now hesitant to even like ishman reels and support the LGBTQIA community and refuse to write stories on wattpad anymore which is so sad to see. Bcci first is after ishan and now this jugnu is trying to destroy a beautiful bond. Did he even ask shubman's permission to do so ? That's it for now there is more I want to say but it's not for the polite ears.
#lgbtq#indian cricket team#ishan kishan#desiblr#ishman#shubish#shubman x ishan#shubman gill#shubmangill#ishankishan#ict
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lando’s fault ✦ SG
characters: fem!reader x shubman gill (smau)
summary: y/n is Virat Kohli's little sister and best friends with Lando Norris so all the boys treat her like their little princess. The fans think that she's dating the McLaren driver but in reality she's with someone else. Virat knows that she and Lando are just friends but he doesn't know about the secret boyfriend. What happens when Lando stops covering up for her and Shubman?
A/N: my little attempt to write cricket and F1 together. all the images are curated from pinterest..happy reading ✨
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liked by viratkohli, shubmangill, landonorris and 1,562,046 others
@ y/n.kohli touchdown India with this grumpy baby
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shahneelgill omg welcome baby <3 say hi to Lando for me
@ landonorris hi
@ y/n.kohli 👀
user1 the little Kohli is back y'all
@ user2 the princess is backkkk
charles_leclerc come back here i miss you
@ y/n.kohli Charlieee
virat.kohli the last frame?
@ y/n.kohli pls it's Lando 🙄
landonorris i was very happy to land, you were very annoying
@ carlossainz55 she was annoying? sure
@ landonorris who's side are you on?
@ y/n.kohli i love you carlitos
shubmangill hey love 😘
@ y/n.kohli hi sweetheart
@user4 ariana what are you doing here? 😭
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liked by viratkohli, landonorris, rohitsharma45 and 3,123,024 others
@ shubmangill Clinical start to the ♥️ 🤍 szn 🇮🇳
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virat.kohli absolute sitara ⭐️
@ shubmangill Thank you Virat bhai 🙌🏻
rohitsharma45 ⭐️
@ shubmangill 🙌🏻
y/n.kohli i'm proud of you Shubi good luck for the next series 🫶🏻
@ shubmangill thank you y/n
user1 so so proud of you my love!! never ever doubted you <33
landonorris what a knock 👏🏻
@ shubmangill thanks Norris
user2 we will always be by your side love ♥️
user4 super super proud of our prince
user12 congratulations on getting out on day 1..can't say i'm surprised, you're very inconsistent and pathetic
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liked by landonorris, ishankishan23, shubmangill and 1,762,078 others
@ y/n.kohli my weekend full of cricket and beaches #bleedblue
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shubmangill hot
@ virat.kohli you met me in the practice tomorrow
user2 lmao not virat coming for shubi 💀
@ user3 i mean i don't blame shubman, she's 😮💨
virat.kohli when did you go to the beach and who's hand is that?
@ y/n.kohli it's just Lando
@ landonorris liar i was still jet lagged and asleep in the hotel room.
@ y/n.kohli LANNO?
@ landonorris sorry I'm scared of your brother
user4 does this mean y/n is dating someone else?
@ user5 they're just playing with us
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liked by y/n.kohli, yashasvijaiswal, abhisheksharma4 and 3,782,012 others
@ shubmangill had a nice weekend ☀️
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ishankishan23 i feel so left out 😔
@ landonorris they left me out as well
@ shubmangill sorry guys children were not allowed
@ user1 shubman 💀
user2 the first picture?? sir are you trying to kill us?
@ user3 i mean i'm already dead
oscarpiastri ☀️🏄
@ shubmangill WE MISSED YOU
user4 the LAST one? sir WHO IS THAT??
@ user5 I have a theory
user4 good now that he is breaking my heart i can move on from him
@ user8 us fr
user6 tell me that is not y/n??
@ user5 that is HER!! look at the swimsuit in her post and it's a very dark and blurry photo here but if you look closely it's a match, it's the same!
@ user7 and the location?? they're the same friggin beach
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@ y/n.kohli birthday week 🦢
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virat.kohli so now I have to find these things from instagram?
user1 is that shubman gill or am I delusional
@ user2 that's him yes and i'm 100% sure he gave her those flowers
landonorris admit it, I did your hair good
@shahneelgill Lando if you did her hair all by yourself she might have need a haircut
danielricciardo happy birthday baby
@ y/n.kohli thank you Danny 🫶🏻
user5 oh to be y/n and get pampered by the cricketers and f1 drivers 🫠
@ user8 she's living the dream life
virat.kohli Don’t ignore me and pick up the
phone y/n
user3 girl we know who it is you don't need to soft launch
@ user6 wahi to
virat.kohli and Lando is uninvited from the dinner party tonight
@ landonorris WHY? I told you I'm not dating her
@ virat.kohli you didn't actually disclose who it was either
@ landonorris this is not fair @ shubmangill
@ y/n.kohli LANDO YOU ARE UNINVITED FROM THE PARTY TONIGHT
user5 we knew it!! and now Lando confirmed it
@ user8 he's going to get beaten up today lmao
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liked by landonorris, shubmangill, anushkasharma and 2,665,034 others
@ y/n.kohli hard launch i guess since Lando blew it
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shubmangill you had to post the last picture?
@ y/n.kohli shut up it’s so cute
user1 stop they're soo adorable 😭
@ user2 like little bunnies
anushkasharma Aww how adorable my babies are! btw honey your brother has just fainted and he will kill Shubman when he wakes up
@ y/n.kohli thank youuuu my darling <33 don't worry I'm on my way
user4 MY PARENTS ARE OFFICIAL!!!
@ user6 you mean 'our' parents
landonorris you guys are so cute I want to throw up
@ y/n.kohli thank you?
ishankishan23 you stole my man
@ y/n.kohli can we share :)
user8 lmao ishan is speaking for us all
@ user7 ishu is us
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#shubmangill#lando norris#cricket#iplt20#f1#formula 1#indian cricket team#virat kohli#rohitsharma#shubman gill
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for the charles, alex and charlotte thing. I think it has been debunked that alex and charlotte weren't friends but friendly because charlotte's sister and alex shared a class. and charlotte and her sister (but mainly the sister) have been really using that former relationship to get engagement. apparently the sister liked a comment about how charlotte and her family were with charles during his hard times. they were also caught running chacha relationship fan accounts and their whole business that they started is a little shady because they don't respond or something. and on a reddit gossip thread once I read that charlotte used to sell some stolen designs or something you can see it on the fauxmoi subreddit when you type F1 in the search bar. all in all its just a lot of holding on to a former relationship (from the fans) they still make edits to songs like deja vu and say that alex and charlotte look alike which I don't think they do at all.
also the F1 gossip pages on Instagram and Tumblr seem to have their favs. I've seen blatant misogyny when it comes to wags like alex, rebecca, carmen. for alex it's always she's private so why is she on tiktok or why is she going out with her boyfriend, she should be private, she wants privacy etc etc (which like she just doesn't want the crazy fans to camp out in her Instagram comments and hate on her constantly and her tiktok is just outfit videos and makeup videos.) for rebecca they'll call her an escort, a whore, call her ugly. again this strong reaction is elicited because she's dating carlos. and carlos is not a wittle baby with no agency who's trapped by ugly witchy rebecca. they're two adults who are consensually hooking up or dating. for carmen it's always that she left her career for him and moved to monaco to be an influencer, which again her choice, she's free to do what she likes and maybe she wanted the easy money from influencing who cares. the gossip pages are surprisingly positive about kelly sometimes (which i suspect is because she provides them with the girl dad max content; another reason they don't like some other wags) I don't think I saw the whole tiktok drama about kelly being covered by the big gossip pages.
i think in every sport, to a certain extent, the wags are hated and criticised for every move that they make and for even the actions of the player. I am a casual cricket watcher and this was a huge deal at the time. so Virat Kohli, the former captain of Indian cricket team and a very reputable player, was dating (is now married to) a Bollywood actress, Anushka Sharma and i remember the hatred she used to get just because she was watching a game and when he was under performing, she used to be the one getting the blame. it was so bad that she stopped attending games and they even broke up once or twice. the same was with other cricket wags as well. it was Athiya Shetty, wife of KL Rahul for a while and now the target is Natasha Stankovic, wife of Hardik Pandya.
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Scots generally don't go much for cricket. Which I find odd, considering how consistently terrible England have been for most of my life. If there's one thing that brings the people of Scotland together, it's England losing at sport.
Cricket's eccentric as hell; the objectives often incomprehensible and bizarre, even to people who follow the game; it's impenetrable terminology has multiple ways of labeling the same things; the simple idea of who is winning and who is losing may be undiscernable for days; it can go on for five days and still end in a draw and they only decided to end matches like that because once, decades ago, a test match went on so long one team risked missing their boat back home; a series of five or more matches can go on for months; people are forced to keep playing long after the result has been decided; bowling and batting require completely different skills and techniques, yet some players master both; it's greatest trophy, The Ashes, is only contested by two nations and is, essentially, a self-deprecating shitpost; and one of the greatest memes of all time originates from a dropped catch in 2019.
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But, because the people of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka love it like nothing else, it is the second most popular sport in the world. And I love it, too. Be it Mitchell Starc clean bowling Rory Burns with the first ball of the 2021/22 Ashes, beginning a series of quite staggering English ineptitude; or Virat Kohli, the greatest batter of this generation, hitting back-to-back sixes off Haris Rauf in front of 95,000 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground while leading India to an extraordinary win against Pakistan at the 2022 T20 World Cup, cricket offers dramatic moments of brilliance with a regularity other sports struggle to match.
If you want an idea of exactly how popular cricket is in India, Kohli has 60 million more instagram followers than Brady, Serena and LeBron combined. His is the 16th most followed account in the world. The only sports stars with larger followings are Messi and Ronaldo. Like the greatest players in any sport, time appears to slow down around him when he's at his best, his balance and timing perfect as he makes an almost impossible task look like the easiest thing in the world (batters have a fraction of a second to react to a ball being bowled at them. Against the fastest bowlers, they might not even be able to see the ball at all, instead relying on triggers and clues and experience to hit it.)
I picked up a love for cricket from my dad, who himself picked it up one rainy summer afternoon (what do you think happens in summer in Scotland?) when he was young and there were only two TV channels. He loves the great West Indian team of the 1970s and 80s like no other. They're probably his favourite thing in sporting history. A found love, rather than the familial support for Hibs he inherited from his father.
(For that, I'd recommend the excellent documentary, Fire In Babylon. No knowledge is needed, beyond that in cricket, unlike baseball, there is no restriction against a bowler aiming at the batter's body. And the West Indian team had a succession of players who bowled at the speed of light and terrorised batters across the world. They also had, in Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards, the two great batters of the - possibly any - era).
I missed much of their quarter century of dominance, being too young or not actually alive, but I do remember their last great bowlers, Courtney Walsh and Curtley Ambrose, while the great Trinidadian, Brian Lara, twice set records for the highest individual score in test cricket, first scoring 375, then an unbeaten 400, a record that still stands today and which may now never be bettered. Of course, both those scores came against England.
There was a lot of listening to cricket on the radio, driving places when we were on holiday in the summer. It was a summer sport then, coverage only following teams when they came to England. In the winter, when England went away, we got little, for this was the age before wall-to-wall sports TV.
For instance, I remember bits of Australia's 1993 Ashes rampage coinciding with daytrips along Hadrian's Wall, among other places, but I have no memory of the following, equally one-sided series in Australia in 1994/95.
Not that test cricket is at all rampageous, containing, as it does, breaks for lunch and tea, and even at it's most fast paced only has a ball bowled every 45 seconds or so, this being repeated about 500 times a day, with maybe 1 in 4 actually being scored from. You can miss great chunks of matches only to find nothing has fundamentally changed when you return. One man dressed in white hurls a small red ball at another, who most often declines the opportunity to hit it as it whizzes past. It is often as close to being a day-long nap as any sport can be.
Today, like football, the sport is played everywhere, all the time. The South Asian nations have spread it across the world, far beyond the borders of the British imperial possessions where the colonial administrators introduced it. Wherever there is a strong community of people from the subcontinent, cricket will be found and while there are less than a dozen full members of the ICC, there are now lots of associate members all competing against each other (the USA is the 18th-ranked men's ODI team, for example). There's almost always something to watch somewhere.
Powered by TV money (rights for the Indian Premier league are, on a per-game basis, now the second most expensive sporting event in the world, after the NFL) the compressed, high-scoring excitement of T20 has become the most popular format of cricket, which is bad for me. Because my preference is for the full-fat, slow-motion weirdness of a test match. It's what I grew up with and in my mind, the game is not for the swift. There's a reason they're called tests. The game should be an examination of technique and concentration and endurance that lasts for ages and ends with two poor bastards trying to scratch out a draw by batting for a day and a half because their side trails by 450 runs and the other 9 players on their team are idiots who got out in ridiculous ways. And then, after they inevitably fail, they do it again a week later. And maybe they lose horribly two more times and their team finds itself 3-0 down with two matches to play, but those matches still get played, even though they won't change the result of the series, because that's also part of the test. Or maybe it rains all summer and no matches are played, because the English, with maniac optimism, like to invent games that cannot be played if it's raining (see also: tennis).
I recognise that this is churlish of me. The women's game, like in so many other sports a niche afterthought, is being supercharged by an influx of cash from India, as the men's IPL has this year expanded into a women's tournament. The TV rights for this sold for £95m, the 5 franchises sold for half a billion. The top players - most players, probably - will make more from it than they do for the rest of the year. T20 is an extraordinary boost for the women's game, where tests are rarely played.
This is A Very Good Thing, but I'll always prefer tests.
Only three nations now have the economic power and talent pool to devote equal attention to all three formats of the game. Only England, India and Australia still play full test series against each other. The rest now play two- or maybe three-match series and only occasionally. The form the future of the game will take is in doubt. The West Indies might fracture amidst a proliferation of T20 franchise leagues, their players - naturally and understandably - touring the world and playing in half-a-dozen dozen leagues, their talents auctioned and drafted and paid far more than they get from tests.
But today I'm going to ignore the question marks about cricket's future and the maybe slow death of anything other than T20. Because today, one of the last remaining marquee matchups begins. Tomorrow, the women's T20 World Cup starts in South Africa. In a couple of months I will consume as much of the two IPLs as I can. In the summer, England will host Ashes series for both men and women that promise much. Australia's men currently holds the ridiculous little urn and are the top ranked side. England's men are actually very good right now and have many fine and likeable players, and a part of me finds that very irritating. Either or neither could win. For the other, England's women are also good, but Australia's are much gooder (for real. Ellyse Perry should be counted among the greatest female sports stars of all time. A world class bowler and batter, she has represented Australia at World Cups in both cricket and football).
All that is for tomorrow and beyond. Today, Australia's men begin a 4-match test series in India. India will probably win. It is incredibly hard to win anywhere as a touring team because weather and pitches vary a great deal from country to country and strongly favour the home team, no matter how lowly they are ranked. The West Indies comfortably beat England last year, and Australia struggled to a draw in Sri Lanka. And of all the places to tour, India is the hardest place to win of all. A series win in India is a rare and treasured thing.
The problem with touring India are the pitches. They are slow and dusty and - like most subcontinental tracks - favour the arcane arts of spin bowling, where a bowler uses his fingers or wrist to put spin on the ball in the hope that when it hits the pitch it grips and it's trajectory changes, deceiving the batter. Pitches are prepared to take advantage of this and push India's home field advantage as much as possible. Teams who play warm-up matches before tests in the hope of acclimatising will find placid, grassy pitches that offer not a hint of the demonic conditions the test series will likely bring. Cricket has never been a gentleman's game.
Australia have one, very very good spin bowler in Nathan Lyon and a number who are either untested or not good. They are likely to suffer against Indian batters who have known how to play spin since picking up a bat. India have Ravichandran Ashwin, also a very very good spinner, but in Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav they have several who are merely very good and likely to prosper against Australian batters who are less good away from Australia (Jadeja, injured for most of the last 6 months is arguably the best all-rounder in men's cricket today. A prodigiously talented bowler and batter, he is also among the best fielders in the men's game).
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Australia have barely toured anywhere since the pandemic began, but their team has played very well at home and their glitchy batting goblins Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith are incredibly good. I have hope they make the series competitive (though for me, their approaches to batting are too angularly idiosyncratic compared to the gloriously pure techniques of Kohli and Babar Azam of Pakistan). But I also hope that Kohli finds form and has a series for the ages.
The man's due.
PS Old Deadspin did a decent primer on cricket years ago and you can still read it, if you don't mind giving the site clicks...
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