There’s a place in the world for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl
And he’s always at home with his back to the wall
And he’s proud of the scars and the battles he’s lost
And he struggles and bleeds as he hangs on the cross
And he likes to be known as the angry young man
The above is a verse from Billy Joel’s Angry Young Man from his 1976 Turnstiles album. The track is a somewhat satirical look at the anger and rebelliousness that is sometimes associated with youth. I came across it again recently after many years. It made me think of Virat Kohli.
India’s premier batsman gives the impression of being overly pernickety. Cricket, it seems, is not a game to be enjoyed but a literal war to be waged. The opposition are not just members of the other team, they are enemies to be conquered. Watching Kohli, you always get the feeling that the gruffness is always there somewhere, just under the surface, seething.
Some months ago, I think it was during India’s tour of Australia, someone wrote in a tweet that one day Kohli will actually celebrate scoring a century. The milestone, it would appear, brings no joy to Kohli. It brings no smile to his face, nor is there the sense of the kind of relief that often radiates from other players. His hundreds are mostly marked by a bat-swinging, fist-thumping anger that would make you want to get out of his way rather than join him in his moment of triumph.
Out in the middle, batting or fielding, he is never reluctant to offer a word to his opponents. He is easily baited. And unlike many great batsmen, a bit of aggro on the field is more likely, it appears, to lure him into indiscretion rather than expand his range. His 169 in Melbourne during the Boxing Day Test was majestic, riveting, but he was accompanied to his big score by a considerable amount of luck. Hit by a throw from Mitchell Johnson (the bowler immediately apologized) and sledged by his opponents, the riled batsman grew reckless.
An extravagant swish to Johnson’s next delivery saw the ball just evading the edge of his flailing blade. A few balls later another loose drive mapped a path between third slip and gully at catchable height. Kohli was then unbelievably dropped by Shane Watson at slip, before a top-edge from an ill-advised pull shot, fueled totally by adrenaline, fell just out of the reach of a hard-running Brad Haddin. Had good fortune not come to his aid, his monumental innings would probably have been cut in half.
During the recent World Cup, Kohli flung an expletive-laced tirade in the direction of an Indian journalist in full view of startled onlookers. The unfortunate recipient’s sin was that he wrote an unflattering article on Anushka Sharma, Kohli’s girlfriend. Turns out, however, that the scribe in the batsman’s firing line was not the one who penned the offending article. Kohli had attacked the wrong guy. An apology was subsequently relayed through another journalist, but much damage had already been done and India’s vice captain had showed himself to be thin-skinned and lacking in self-control.
Inexplicably, the Indian team manager said this in a statement: “There was a misunderstanding and no abusive language was used.†They should be careful they don’t become enablers.
In his latest show of his tetchiness, Kohli is “disappointed†and “hurt†at criticism he received from the media upon India’s exit from the World Cup. India’s Test captain and One Day International (ODI) vice-captain went on to highlight his performances over the past five years against those of his teammates: "Personally I was very disappointed. I don't think anyone has helped India win as many matches or performed as consistently as I have in the last five years." He went on, "So in my case if I don't do well in two games it is a dip in form whereas for some of the other players they perform two games out of ten they come back in form. I don't understand that and I don't really pay attention to it.â€
These are hardly the words of a leader of men. To be sure, some of the column space leveled at Kohli’s personal affairs is shameful and simply wrong. But those in the public’s eye are always subjected to this kind of unfairness and so the tools to respond appropriately are useful to develop. Tendulkar’s heir has much work to do in curbing a tendency to overreact.
At 26, Kohli is already the maker of 32 international centuries. His batting ability is almost otherworldly. Within his grasp is a long and glorious career if he is minded to seize it. He should let go of some of the anger. The slings and arrows fired by the media towards him are not really personal; they are part and parcel of the business he’s in.
Once again, over to Billy Joel:
And there’s always a place for the angry young man
With his fist in the air and his head in the sand
He’s never been able to learn from mistakes
And he can’t understand why his heart always breaks
His honour is pure, and his courage as well
And he’s fair and he’s true, and he’s boring as hell
And he’ll go to the grave as an angry old man
mailerreport.com
Garfield Robinson is originally from Jamaica and now lives in Louisiana. He is a West Indian cricket tragic
according to Billy Joel : we aint to pretty we aint too proud
