National Geographic produced a documentary on the Indian skipper Virat Kohli. They have tried to reveal the true story of the man who oozes talent and controversy in equal amounts. However, it was more of a scientific biopic. In 45-odd minutes, it tries to answer the question as to whether Virat Kohli was born to be a “mega icon”, or was he sculpted into one?

In the first episode of its new series called “Mega Icons”, National Geographic interviewed various scientists and experts from the fields of neurosurgery, development biology, brain-behavior research, and cognitive science to explain the neurological and psychological concepts at work behind specific instances in Kohli’s that has led him to where he is standing now.

 However, it has been a first time on national-television, Virat Kohli has officially spoken about his tattoos. The episode builds it up well, defining tattoos as “perhaps one of the world’s oldest Instagram posts”. Kohli has nine tattoos, each of which is either inspired by turning points in his life, or things he seeks inspiration from. These include god’s eye, a Samurai warrior, his parents’ names, his Test and ODI cap numbers, and the Hindu god Shiva. Talking about them revealed that now he doesn’t need to look any further than my both my arms to understand where he was and where he has come now.

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Cricket fans will also enjoy the part where Kohli speaks about his batting – about how focused he gets when he is on the field. He explained, “Sometimes I go into a state where I don’t even look at the bowler. It’s literally just a ball coming out of, you know you can almost call it a blurred vision. I follow my instinct to a level that I feel like there is no negative streak in my body at all, at that moment.”

Contradicting the experts who analyze him, Virat revealed that he is born, or “meant to be”, who he is. He said, “It is not something that can be created.” The experts, meanwhile, suggest that geniuses such as Kohli are only partly born but become who they are as a result of external factors.

The episode is watchable but it would leave viewers wanting more. For such a colorful, animated and passionate individual as he is, it leaves you thinking there are so many parts of his brain and psyche that all the scientists have barely touched upon. The episode has Virat Kohli’s stamp of approval all over it.

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Virat Kohli’s story is meant to inspire budding sportspersons for generations to come. He is arguably the finest batsman in world cricket, defied all odds in his life to emerge a true champion. It’s known to all that Kohli won hearts for his courageous effort to take the field soon after his father’s death during the start of his 12 years ago. He was in the middle of a Ranji Trophy match for Delhi against Karnataka in December 2006, when his father passed away.

In that match, Kohli was batting on 40 overnight when his father passed away. Despite many believing, he wouldn’t turn up for the rest of the match, the teenager came to the ground the next day and score 90 runs in 238 balls. His heroic knock helped his team Delhi to avoid a follow-on. Although he has never spoken in depth about what he went through at that time, the Indian skipper has finally revealed how the series of events turned him into a focussed cricketer. 

In the documentary, Kohli said, “It happened in my arms. I think I became much more focused after that. I lost total desire of wanting to do the other stuff and put all my energy into realizing my dream and my father’s dream as well.”

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Kohli said that the incident happened in his first season in the Ranji Trophy. He recalled, “It was 3 in the morning, and I was batting overnight. I was 40 not out, and I had to go in the morning and bat the next day because it was a four-day Ranji Trophy cricket. We just couldn’t get help. We tried to get help from the neighbors, whoever we knew was a doctor. It was such a time of the night that no one responded. By the time ambulance and everything came, everything was already gone.”

Virat Kohli recently became the third Indian cricketer in history, after Sachin Tendulkar (1997-98) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2007), to be nominated for the coveted Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. The awards ceremony will be held in New Delhi on Tuesday, September 25.