Virat Kohli is establishing himself as the leading batsman of his generation, displaying a level of excellence in all three formats of the game. Kohli is becoming the face of cricket not just in India, but all over the world. The 29-year-old is synonymous with the game in the way that Lionel Messi is with football, Roger Federer is with tennis and Tiger Woods is with the realm of golf.
Kohli is in the prime of his career and is on an upward trajectory, propelling his averages up towards unprecedented levels. He has distanced himself from his contemporaries, although he has also benefitted from the year-long absence of Steve Smith, who besmirched his reputation in the sport for his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal for Australia in 2018.
Kohli has remained controversy-free during his career and has the advantage of being of being a far superior player in limited-over cricket than his rival. Even when the India captain has endured minor setbacks, he has always come out firing even recently when he scored a century in the second Test against Bangladesh that proved be a decisive factor in his side’s victory after being dismissed for only four in the first Test. It’s a trait that all great champions of sport have to prove.
Messi has performed heroics in his career when people have suggested that Cristiano Ronaldo had supplanted him as the world’s best. Federer has bounced back from injuries to reclaim his spot at the top of the men’s game in tennis – still leading the way with 20 Grand Slam crowns. Woods made one of the great comebacks in sporting history to clinch his 15th major in 2019 by winning The Masters, ending an 11-year-drought without triumphing at a leading event.
Now a great horse must follow in their footsteps. Enable was aiming to create history in 2019 by becoming the first horse to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe three times on the bounce. She entered the contest on the back of 12-straight wins that included victories at the Yorkshire Oaks and King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes earlier in the season. However, on this occasion, John Gosden’s charge did not have the magic on the track and was beaten out by her rival Waldgeist at Longchamp by one-and-three-quarter lengths.
Enable’s owners have already put the horse back in training for next season where she will compete at the age of six. It will not be a surprise to see her compete in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, being already backed at 5/1 in the latest horse racing betting odds to win the event for a third time. Enable will be remembered as one of the all-time greats of flat horse racing, but to distance herself from the rest of the pack at the top of the sport she will need another pinnacle moment in her career.
The bay filly was only narrowly beaten in her last outing so there is hope and she does have the heart of a champion. The rest of the elite always manage to bounce back from disappointments and it would be fitting for her to bow out with l’Arc back in her possession, ending as a true champion. Kohli will continue in the world of cricket, Messi will keep the ball at his feet, Woods the club in his hand, Federer swinging his racket… now can Enable produce on the track?
