It wasn’t love at first sight for me and Virat Kohli. Of course, for Kohli it wasn’t anything. He is unlikely to even be aware of my existence. But he wasn’t an instant hit in the way Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly were for Indian cricket fans. It was different with Kohli. His is a story of mistakes made, hard work, maturing and evolution. In my case, becoming a Kohli fan happened in five stages. Dismissal Virat Kohli first appeared on my radar when he led India to the Under-19 World Cup title in 2008 and then was selected for the One-day team that went to Sri Lanka because Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag were injured. He actually played as an opener in that series, scoring one fifty in five games. It was a relatively forgettable debut series and that’s the impression he left: forgettable. He appeared to have some talent but there was nothing to suggest that he would be a world-beater. Tendulkar and Sehwag returned after the series and Kohli have to wait another year for his next game. I did not notice his absence. Anger Kohli’s, that is. Once Kohli returned to the team and cemented a place in the ODI side, the attitude was evident. The swearing, the gestures, the naked arrogance. There were some runs too, of course. In hindsight, early signs of the promise Kohli possessed but at the time the personality dominated the performance. Sachin Tendulkar did not curse. He was elegant and restrained. Virender Sehwag did not curse. He was too busy having fun smashing the bowling. Rahul Dravid curse? You must be joking. So who did this young kid think he was? Now this young kid was in his early 20s and needed time to mature but when you are on the international stage, you don’t get that luxury. His attitude was off-putting and he didn’t appear to be a worthy successor to the way Tendulkar and Dravid carried themselves. They were world-beaters and they did it the “right way”. Kohli appeared to be angry at everything, even when he scored a hundred. That wasn’t cool.