In the News: Virat Kohli Who: Rising star in Indian cricket Why: Playing hardball with hopes of a billion+

Do

Persevere. After joining the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kohli went through a distinctly average initial two seasons in the IPL team. As the saying goes though, “Third time’s the charm”: his third season saw him nearly double his initial average of 15 to 28 runs/innings.

Destroy reputations. Kohli has been rapidly tearing into the statistics of leading international bowlers — and then passing them through the shredder. Notable scalps include smacking Lasinth Malinga for 24 runs in a single over, and the recent destruction of Pakistan’s Wahab Riaz in a spell that left the beleaguered Riaz with an economy rate of 12.50.

Give hope. With Rahul Dravid having recently announced his retirement (and Sachin surely not being too far behind), India needs a new talisman to invest its hopes in. Who better than Kohli, having just been promoted to vice-captain of the ODI team? He has also just entered the Test arena, and is bound to start making waves in this format soon. Fingers crossed.

Don’t

Swear on the field. One critique Kohli faces has to do with his expletive-laden century celebrations. What’s wrong with just a big smile? Swearing profusely on the pitch rarely makes one many friends, most particularly among opposition fans, most of whom would already be quite frustrated at their team’s fruitless bowling efforts. Kohli was forced to hand over half his match fee recently due to having flipped the bird at opposition fans during a December Test match in Sydney.

Attract the wrong kind of attention. Hot and heavy waves have gone through Twitter during this past Asia Cup, when can-barely-keep-her-clothes-on model Poonam Pandey posed in her “lingerie” to grab the attention of a certain Mr Kohli.

Act in a controversial ad. While it may have been fun playing a pilot getting cosy with co-pilot Genelia D’Souza in an aircraft, Kohli took some stick afterwards for promoting irresponsible flying practices.

Illustration by A.U. Santhoshkumar