When Virat Kohli turns back the clock, he excites and exhilarates like few others and Sunday was a prime example of him rising to the occasion on one of the grandest stages of them all — India v Pakistan in the desert sands of Dubai
Virat Kohli celebrates his century against Pakistan during their Champions Trophy match in Dubai, UAE, on Sunday. Pic/PTI
“At 36, a week off is very good. It takes a lot out of me to put in that much effort.” So said Virat Kohli while receiving the Player of the Match award on Sunday night, for his unbeaten 100 against Pakistan that practically guaranteed India a place in the semifinal of the Champions Trophy. Sometimes, one needs reminding that Kohli is 36. That he has been playing at the highest level for more than 16 years. Because looking at him, you’d never guess.
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Fittest member of Team India
Kohli is comfortably the fittest member of the Indian squad, and not by accident. A lifestyle change in 2013 has been his constant ally for the last dozen years and he leaves nothing to chance, single-minded in his desire to make sure that if he doesn’t score runs, it’s not because he is not at his fittest — physically and mentally.
Such are the dizzying heights Kohli has scaled over the years that it’s inevitable that there will be a downward curve at some stage or the other. Kohli hasn’t been the same run-scoring monster over the last five years that he was for that same preceding block of time, but when he does turn the clock back, he excites and exhilarates like few others. Sunday was a prime example of the showman in him rising to the occasion on one of the grandest stages of them all, India v Pakistan in the desert sands of the Emirates.
Going into that game, Kohli hadn’t scored an international century for 10 innings. That, surely, isn’t a big deal, right? He also didn’t have an ODI hundred for 15 months, which seems a long time until one wisens up to the fact that in that period, he had played only seven matches. But Kohli has still got it, doesn’t he? He most certainly has.
Sunday necessitated him to play at a pace that he is most comfortable with, in a role that has become second nature. While he has embraced the team’s new aggression-at-all-cost mantra like the consummate professional he is, he is more in the Joe Root mould, happiest doing what comes organically to him. Against Pakistan, on a slowish surface with a target of 242, he could afford to bat in the most Kohli-like fashion. By cutting out the risks, playing the ball on its merit, picking his bowlers and his areas. And running furiously between the wickets.
Just seven fours in century
There were only seven fours in Kohli’s 51st ODI ton (100 not out off 111 balls), translating to just 28 per cent of his runs. More than three-fourths of his construction was based on the brick-and-mortar, the ones and twos and the occasional three, because the heaviness of the outfield was a deterrent to a bouquet of boundaries. Kohli ran not just his own runs with intent, but also those of his partners. All this, after having flung himself on the field for 49.4 overs, chasing after balls like a fox terrier and holding two catches, the first of which took him past Mohammad Azharuddin for the most ODI catches by an Indian outfielder.
If he was drained at the end of it all, as much emotionally and mentally, one suspects, as physically, it was with good reason. A week off, and then he will be back (on March 2). New Zealand and the rest of the field have been forewarned.
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