Neil Daswani

A heartfelt poetic tribute to Virat Kohli's legendary cricket journey—celebrating his passion, records, and graceful farewell as India’s iconic Player #269.
on May 28, 2025

Virat Kohli, A Farewell 

Only a champion knows

when to hang up his boots

let us respect that he chose 

and let there be no disputes

yes, we all wish he’d played more 

we know that he is fit as a fiddle 

we wanted him to score runs galore 

we wanted him out there in the middle 

the accolades have come in thick and fast 

noting his victories and all that he’s done 

from the greats of the game, present and past 

many of them rivals, against whom India had won 

both as a batsman and captain, he’d led the way 

then, with 10,000 in sight, King Kohli walked away 

he walked away with his head held high 

notching up thirty hundreds to his name 

a fighter, whose mantra was ‘never say die’

high energy and passion, he lived for the game 

seven double hundreds, not many can match 

2016-17, two thousand runs, his purple patch 

fourteen years ago was when he made his debut 

he wore gleaming white, donned the baggy blue 

Virat, brave, valorous hero; he will always shine 

let us stand up: applaud and salute Player #269 

Neil Daswani

Neil Daswani, a naturalised Singaporean of Indian origin, struck a purple patch over mid-2020 to early 2022, authoring and publishing six volumes of poetry. His poetry has been showcased at the Singapore Writers Festival, Bangalore Literature Festival as well as Writers Shorts at the Jaipur Literature Festival and JLF Toronto.

His poem O Brave Soldiers won the runner-up Prize awarded by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting under the aegis of the Defence Forces.