There is this guy, Virat Kohli. He is all of 35 years and playing in all three formats of cricket. But so many are convinced he has no business playing in the snappier format that is T20 cricket.
Leave aside the fact that he single handedly won us the match against Pakistan in the last T20 world Cup in 2022 and was the highest run getter in the tournament.
India did not make it then to the semis. As soon as the tournament was over, cries went up that Rohit Sharma and Kohli were too old for this format.
In the ongoing IPL, Kohli is still the leading run scorer till now. He has single handedly scored 40% of his team’s runs till now. But his run rate is still too slow as per critics, conveniently ignoring the fact that he is easily the most consistent and is battling little support at the other end.
Ignore the fact that he is easily the fittest guy in the team as he outruns his much younger partners even at the tail end of his innings. He is old…
In other fields, for possibly different reasons, retirement ages have slowly but surely been going North. Retirement ages have increased at work. Children are being born later to mothers thanks to medical miracles. Doctors are convinced brains are working at optimum levels in the seventies.
In short, elsewhere the proof lies in the pudding. Science has worked its miracles well and they are being validated and accepted. In sports however there are the critics full of doubts and always looking out for new dawns.
And it is not Kohli alone who draws the ire of critics. There is Djokovic who must easily be the most criticized GOAT in history, with the highest number of Grand Slam titles ever and counting.
But every time he loses a match, the end of his glorious career is signaled. Ignore the fact that loss is in the finals of a tournament or its semi finals. The same was true of Federer who towards the end of his extended career never looked like winning a title but always made it to the semis or thereabouts.
There is Ronaldo who is still making waves at 39, doing gravity defying jumps to score, even if he is now being shunned by the big teams. Messi at 37 is not much younger but he gets away easier.
Women sportspersons get away easy too. The likes of Steffi Graff, Serena Williams, Annika Sorenstam, never invited so much critical appraisal.
Maybe alpha males draw the ire of lesser humans and also those who have been alpha males and now cannot stomach achievements elsewhere.
A case in point of course is Sunil Gavaskar, an all time great of the game, who loses no opportunity in passing snide remarks at Kohli. His name for example is also etched in perpetuity for that ignominious 36 run innings, as he batted out the full 60 overs in the first one day World Cup. Did he retire from this format after this? Of course not, he battled on till he got better.
The latest victim of such attacks is Tiger Woods, who finished a disastrous last in the recent Augusta Masters after making the cut for a record breaking number of times. He is being told to walk into the sunset by some former greats.
Forget the fact that he is showing tremendous mental and physical resolve in battling age, injury and time away from competitive sport. And he was better than half the field, comprising of the world’s best in this tournament, even in the present state of mind and body.
If one thought positively about it, he should be an inspiration for all humans battling adversity because his efforts are right up there in a victory of mind over matter.
Maybe what such critics forget is the fact that these greats dearly love the sport that they are still involved with at the highest levels. Competing at the highest levels gives them such a high that they want to savor it as long as they can. Maybe winning or losing at this stage of their careers does not bother them too much.
And if it is the case of Kohli or Rohit who are still the best in the business, why should age be a factor? Especially when we consider the fact that there is no one even in the vicinity of their numbers.
Of course it is very possible that the more pure alpha males like Kohli or Djokovic or Ronaldo draw more ire because of their in your face aggressiveness. Maybe if their persona had been more tempered it would have been more acceptable to the carping critics. Messi is a case in point.
It appears, age is just a number is less acceptable then ‘act your age’ for some guys in sports.
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