Cheerleaders are not bad girls: Virat Kohli

"Arre yaar, tumne toh woh girlfriend wali baat headline bana di," laughed Virat Kohli when he met us again, after his last interview to DT.

Team India's new vice-captain, Virat is also just a chilled-out guy. That's more than a little obvious when teenaged girls swarm around him for autographs and pictures, and attend every public event they can find him at! It helps that he looks good too - not one of them uses the word 'cute', while 'hot' occurs twice in each sentence.

But talking about girls hasn't exactly been routine in Team India, where the older lot have maintained squeaky clean public personas. Over a chat, Virat fields questions about girls and cheerleaders with ease.

You say you don't have a girlfriend. Why?

Time nahin hai. Honestly. Kya fayda hai - to be with someone, you need time. Ghar pe aane ka time hi nahin milta hai, we stay in the same city for barely a week, we're touring for months. So there's no point being with someone. I'm at home two-three months in one year, combined. We'll get a break after the IPL - that's the only break I'll see in four years.

And what do you think of the cheerleaders debate in IPL - yay or nay?

I don't think as players, it affects us too much - you're so involved on the field that you're not bothered about what's happening outside. I think it's more to do with the whole package and the entertainment thing - for the crowd coming in, it's fine as long as you have music. They're cheerleaders, they're not like... bad girls, or girls who're showing off too much. 

They're professional dancers, their job is to dance, they entertain people. You have people dancing in shows as well, so I don't think there's anything wrong with it as long as people are getting entertained.

But one of the arguments proffered against them is that they distract the players...

I don't get distracted, personally. In T20, you don't have time to get distracted - it's so quick, you have to run around in the field, and while batting, you don't actually think about anything else. I don't think it distracts us at all.

And off the field?

Well, I don't know about off the field, if cricketers are getting involved with them, but certainly I don't think they distract anyone on the field. If people are getting distracted (on the field) that's their own mistake I guess, they're probably not concentrating too well. I've heard of a few times... that came on Twitter and all, like last IPL - that was sort of a bad incident, as far as this cheerleader thing was concerned, but I don't think there's anything wrong with it otherwise.

What did you think of the IPL ceremony?

I didn't watch it. I was shooting in Mumbai for a commercial at the time.

Do you remember, off-hand, how many endorsements you're doing at this time?

I think 15, I signed two-three recently. That's what - when I get time off from cricket, I'm shooting most of the time.

Do you plan and project a certain image?

I've been lucky - all the ads I've got, I've got to be myself. I haven't had to act too much or tried too hard to be someone I'm not. I think that's why people sort of like them. Even the Fastrack ads I did with Genelia. A bit of controversy also came in, but I think that's a part of it.

That was refreshing - you being a regular guy in an ad. Most sportspersons make a deliberate effort to keep it goody-goody...

It was more of the connection with the brand - it's edgy, it connects with the youth. If I'm a cricketer and Genelia's an actress... If they see something that's wanting to connect to the youth (sic), obviously they'll like that. I think you've got to be yourself. If someone's trying to portray that he's a nice boy and trying too hard to prove that point, I think it shows to other people watching. See I'm not a nerd, obviously. Do I look like one? I'm not someone who sits at home and doesn't like to go out, doesn't like to watch movies. I like to live my life. I'm turning 24 this year. If I don't live my life now, when else will I? I hardly get time off the field, so when I do, I enjoy it with my friends, hang out, watch movies, do what 23-year-olds do. I'm not a nerd, don't plan to be a nerd and read books - which I can't do at all (laughs)! So I like to be myself.

Credits for Times of India