What Virat Kohli can learn from Van Persie

It’s the El Clasico. The Santiago Bernabeu is alight, with smoke from red flares mingling with the white sea of Real Madrid fans. Most of them are Spanish, and hate Barcelona’s dominance over the La Liga — booing the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, David Villa and Cesc Fabregas…

It’s 27th June 2012, and Spain are playing Portugal in the Euro 2012 semifinals. A lot of fans have travelled to Donetsk from Madrid. And when Real star Pepe steps up to take a penalty, they jeer him. When Sergio Ramos whacks in a spotkick - half of Barcelona spur him on with ‘Vamos!’, and when Fabregas scores the winner to put them in the final, he sends those same fans from Madrid into delirious joy.

This, is totally understandable. And players know it, live with it and, even enjoy it.

But when Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli is booed after running out Mumbai Indians’ Ambati Rayadu after the batsman stumbled into the bowler, Vinay Kumar, in a recent IPL match, the RCB skipper reacted in a manner that showed a complete lack of understanding of sporting rivalry.

“I don’t know what is wrong with the people in this venue. It feels a bit weird because at the end of the day you play for India and you don’t come here to be hated. When I come back and play for India, they are going to cheer for me. It doesn’t work that way.”

In fact, his reaction to the clash with Gautam Gambhir was much more mature: “What happens on the field stays there,” he said — something Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo would have been proud of hearing (the WC 2006 incident, when both played for Manchester United, here from 1.20 onwards ).

Listen to our audio podcast, where Pulasta Dhar, Sports Editor Ashish Magotra and Arsenal fan Gautam Viswanathan discuss the RVP and Kohli reactions. Alternatively, you can download the podcast by clicking here .

Honestly, Kohli was not in the wrong when he ran out Rayudu. It’s a fast-paced T20 match with high stakes - did you expect him to pick up the batsman, dust him down, pat him on the back and let him stay? If the umpire has given it out, it’s out. And this is the man who almost came to blows with Gautam Gambhir when RCB played Kolkata Knight Riders - so to expect him to turn into a saint is next to impossible.

But just when we see a football-like inter-city rivalry in the IPL - something the BCCI has tried since it’s inception - Kohli’s reaction comes across as bitter.

Maybe Kohli should learn from Manchester United’s Robin van Persie. The striker returned to London to face his former club Arsenal, where he spent eight years and scored 128 goals for them — only to be welcomed by 60,000 jeering fans. And when he scored against them, he could have celebrated to shut them up forever. He could have riled them up by kissing his new badge or mocked them by sliding down the pitch.

Instead, he kept a straight face, jaws tightly clenched and eyes staring straight ahead. He knows it was going to happen, maybe not as much as it did, but the boo boys were in full force and an expressionless celebration was as much a slap in the face for Arsenal as a full-blown cartwheel would have been.

But if we live by Kohli’s definition of what is right, then an Arsenal fan from Holland should not cheer for Van Persie when he takes the field for the Oranje.

Kohli was not at fault for running out an opponent - not for scores of fans who enjoy the high-voltage action in the IPL. But he was certainly at fault for his childish, immature reaction to the fans’ ‘Cheater! Cheater!’ chants.

At the end of the day, that reaction is what will define a sportsman. And when Kohli said, “Whoever wins or loses, in any of the games in Bangalore, every captain is cheered, every Indian player is cheered,” he may just have ensured that he’ll be booed at the Wankhede even when he’s playing in blue.