Virat Kohli walks in when the first
Indian wicket falls. If the ball is doing a bit, as it has been in the
Asia Cup, he's still in the middle at the fall of the second wicket. And
the third wicket. If anything, Virat should have been done in by the
repetitiveness of India's batting slides.
Consistency is not the nature of a T20 batsman. Virat Kohli
though, is not a typical T20 batsman. He has an almost scientific
know-how of his game. His cricket. Not his T20 game or his ODI game or
his Test game. His cricket.
Virat's cricketing expertise is what binds the batsman
across formats. He doesn't try too hard to change what he does in T20s -
already in multiple man-of-the-match chats he has harped on about not
doing anything different but focussing on his game. On playing the same
shots no matter what the format.
His game is not built on playing the ball in the air. You
would have noticed, compared to Rohit Sharma, Virat hits far fewer
sixes. (27 compared to 41.)
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma strike at almost the same rate
in T20s (132 and 129). It's Virat's batting average that is alarmingly
high for a T20 batsman, over 50.
He scores heavily through point and the covers - the dab
behind point into the ground is his get off strike shot. The dispatch
through covers, thudding into the practice pitches is the King's seal.
The prowl down the wicket, almost Deanoesque, with a flick of the
wrists, a whack of the ball, is the transporter. By now, they are etched
in your mind, as they no doubt, engraved in his, to be played on call.
However, more than the big shots, it's those patient leaves
and blocks that have taken Virat's game to the next level. At a time
where intolerance is a mantra, both with trigger-happy cricketers and
citizens, where it's easier to hit first and think later, Virat has been
almost sagelike playing that waiting game.
Over the years, "playing my natural game" has been abused
by way too many batsmen. It's often an easy, simplified answer to those
same old boring questions. It often begs the question, is it in your
natural game to not adapt? But how well Virat has adapted - through that
spell from hell from Mohammad Amir; he left, blocked, dabbed behind
point, till he could rip him through the covers. Virat conceded three
overs to Amir, snatching the fourth from him. Even then, the risk was
low; the ball was played into the ground, as was Pakistan.
In 2016 so far, Virat Kohli has three not-outs in scores of
90*, 59*, 50, 7, 49, 56*. In these six innings, he's hit only four 6s.
India has won all six matches. Virat Kohli is yet to hit a six in the
Asia Cup.
First published here
4 comments:
Frankly I did not find him as talented when he was new...but boy that 133 against SL in Hobart and 183 against Pak in Asia cup was gold...he is already a legend.
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