Team India skipper Virat Kohli has claimed that his father refused to offer any kind of bribe to get him selected in the Delhi Ranji squad. Kohli's remarks came during his Instagram Live video session with Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri where both the athletes talked on a variety of topics. Speaking to Chhetri, Kohli said, "In Delhi, sometimes things happen which are not fair. There was one instance where a certain someone did not play by the rules when it came to selection criteria. He told my father that while I had the merit to be selected, a little extra (possibly a bribe) was needed to confirm my selection," Kohli told Chhetri during the session.
"My father, who was an honest middle-class man, who worked hard all his life to become a successful lawyer, did not even understand what little extra meant. My father simply said -- If you want to select Virat, then let it be purely on merit. I will give you nothing extra," he added. "I did not get selected. I cried a lot. I was broken. But that incident taught me a lot. I realized that I had to be extraordinary to become successful and that I had to achieve this purely through my own effort and hard work. My father showed me the right way, through action and not merely words," Kohli said. Kohli was also asked by Chhetri about which innings he would want to play again from the past. "Desert Storm, Tendulkar's semi-final innings of 140+ against Australia in Sharjah in 1998," Kohli said.
