First Ever Interviews: From Virat Kohli to Rahul Dravid, our cricketers will make you NOSTALGIC! Watch

Fans of the 90's were a different breed, they switched off their television sets once Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed

By: Ankit Banerjee |
August 16, 2017 12:17 pm

In India, cricketers are treated as nothing short of being demi-gods. They are idolised and celebrated with such a hype that even the non-followers of the game know the happenings in the world of cricket. As cricket fanatics, we were introduced to cricket in the mid-90’s, when the Dravids and the Souravs of the world were carving a name for themselves. Sachin Tendulkar was the pivot around which the team revolved. Fans of the 90’s were such a fan of Tendulkar that they switched off their television sets once he was dismissed.

With the turn of the century, we saw the rise of a different breed of cricketers, who were fearless and ambitious. We saw a small town talent like MS Dhoni reach the pinnacle in the world of cricket. Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, along with Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, popularised the game post-2000. In this article, we will give you a glimpse of a few renowned cricketers and their first interviews. Some of them are bound to make you laugh as most were very innocent back then.

Here is the list:

Rahul Dravid: This is an interview just after India’s tour of England, where Rahul got a 95 on debut. In his first interview, the young chocolate boy of cricket goes on to talk about his rise and the people who helped him along the way.

Sachin Tendulkar: The interview was held in 1992 when a baby-faced Sachin Tendulkar declared the man of the match. He was interviewed by the iconic Tony Grieg, who also gave him a present.

Sourav Ganguly: The prince of Kolkata was first included in the Indian setup in 1992 but was soon dropped. He came back strong in England at Lord’s where he got his career off to a dream start by notching a ton on debut, that shot him to limelight straight away. This is his first ever officially recorded interview, where he seems pretty shy and talks about the entire experience and the importance of playing in the arc.

Virat Kohli: The blue-eyed boy of Indian cricket is now the current captain of the Indian cricket team. Like in the present, he was very focused in his early days as well. It becomes very clear that he belongs to a different generation with candour in the way he speaks during the interview with VJ Shibani Dandekar – quite different from the generation of the more reserved Rahul and Sourav. Virat looks chubby, does not sport a beard and his wearing a printed tee, looking quite ungroomed and quite unlike he looks now.