Was Denied Selection Once Because my Father Refused to Pay Bribe, Reveals Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli might be widely regarded as one of the finest batsmen of current generation but his rise to stardom wasn't a smooth ride.

During a an Instagram chat with Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri, Kohli has revealed he lost out on selection once during his junior cricket days because his father refused to bribe an official.

"In my home state (Delhi) sometimes things happen that are not fair," Kohli told Chhetri. "One one occasion, a certain someone did not play by the rules when it came to selection criteria. He told my father while I had the merit, a little extra (bribe) was needed to confirm my selection."

He continued, "My father, an honest middle-class man who had worked hard all his life to become a successful lawyer - didn't even understand what that 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."

Consequently, the current India captain wasn't selected leaving him heartbroken. "I didn't get selected and I cried a lot. I was broken," he recalled.

However, instead of getting negatively affected by the turn of events, Kohli, inspired by his father's honesty, vowed to work even harder and force his way into the team.

"That incident taught me a lot," he said. "I realised that the world runs like this. If you want to progress, do something that no one else is doing. If I had to become successful, I had to do the extraordinary. I had to achieve this purely through my own effort and hard work. My father showed me the right way, through his actions and not merely words. Those little things had a great impact on me."