Shubman GIll with India’s previous captains – Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli (Photo by DAVID GRAY/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
There are plenty of Rohit Sharma fans, as can be gleaned by his devout social media followers, but the deafening roar at a pro-India crowd in Sydney told the story.
As has been the case for over a decade, Virat Kohli still holds the crowd in the palm of his hands and remains the transcendent figure of cricket.
If there was any doubt, as he enters the final stages of a legendary career confined to only playing in the 50-over format in international cricket, the bedlam over his final tour of Australia proved that all eyes remain on him.
After winding back the clock with an unbeaten half-century against Australia to end the ODI series, Kohli might just have enough left in the tank to get to the 2027 World Cup, where he hopes to end his legendary international career with a fairy-tale finish.
It will leave a gigantic hole for cricket. Kohli’s presence makes any game he’s playing feel so much bigger. There was much more media and fans around India’s training sessions in Australia because of him. He is an editor’s dream, with the combative Kohli – not afraid of dishing it back – viewed as clickbait.
Like all larger-than-life athletes, it’s much more than what merely happens on-field. Kohli is married to Bollywood star Anushka Sharma adding to the lustre in a country where cricket and its movie industry – two money-spinning beasts – are worshipped.
Virat Kohli (L) and his wife Anushka Sharma (Photo by SUJIT JAISWAL / AFP) (Photo by SUJIT JAISWAL/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
He has previously been in Forbes top 100 list of highest paid athletes, while his social media following dwarfs LeBron James and is only topped by Ronaldo and Messi. Kohli has also received the profile treatment from Wright Thompson, the longform journalism master.
Given he’s worshipped in a country of a billion, Kohli has sought somewhat refuge in London – perhaps the cricket backwater of the U.S. would be better? – as his new home as he winds down his career reduced now to only sporadic appearances for India.
While this isn’t the end, it’s getting close and leaves cricket searching for its next poster boy. Cricket’s biggest star just has to be from India, the sport’s heartland these days due to such fanatical following and an abundance of money.
It’s been the case since Sachin Tendulkar became cricket’s dominant force in the 1990s as India rose as a power on-and-off the field. The baton was passed to Kohli, somewhere early last decade even though Rohit and former skipper MS Dhoni have enduring popularity.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were feted in Sydney in their last games in Australia (Photo by Mark Evans – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Cricket Australia via Getty Images
New Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill is becoming the face of Indian cricket after a whirlwind six-month period, where the added repsonsibility has unlocked his batting talents in the long format.
He is still clearly building up his profile, certainly globally. In his first press conference of the Australian tour, Gill fronted the cameras along Perth’s picturesque Swan River as those locals passing by squinted at him as if trying to pinpoint exactly who he was.
With an unassuming personality, and a batting style that while is eye candy for traditionalists is unlikely to melt social media, Gill is probably not going to be that guy. So who will be?
It might be Yashasvi Jaiswal, the dynamic 23-year-old left-handed opener who is quickly building a formidable Test record. But with Rohit and Kohli still anchored in the top-order, Jaiwal has not been able to find a spot in the ODI team to underline he’s still very much in the shadows of his legendary teammates.
Perhaps the next guy is someone who has not yet played international cricket. It’s a lot of pressure to put on a 14-year-old, but Vaibhav Suryavanshi has already proven he’s thrived under the spotlight after in May smashing the fastest ever century by an Indian in the Indian Premier League.
It seems like destiny that Suryavanshi will follow the footsteps of Tendulkar and Kohli as India’s talisman.
His rise has been swift. Suryavanshi was just 12 years and 284 days old when he made his first-class debut in the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy before last year hitting a century against Australia’s under-19 team off just 58 balls.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi is a cricket phenom (Photo by ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
At 13, Suryavanshi was signed by the Royals for $130,000 in November’s IPL auction in Saudi Arabia. He is simply cricket’s greatest phenom since Tendulkar made his international debut at just 16.
Give it a bit more time, but Suryavanshi is at the head of the queue to receive the baton from Kohli and be the face of cricket. It will be tough shoes to fill.