Virat Kohli is a by-product of Australian cricket
He couldn’t conjure the impossible again, right? For much of India’s sputtering chase at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali, Australia sensed a memorable upset victory but apprehension gnawed. Virat Kohli, who is seemingly honed in divine intervention, was still at the crease and, until dismissed, Australia knew the match was not over.
India had stuttered for most of the World T20, buckling under the severe strain of being the favourites and hosts. The overwhelming pressure had seemingly become too suffocating for them.
Fortunately, India had a saviour to rescue them from the embarrassment of an early exit and scorn from a billion compatriots. Kohli relishes the stakes being intensified. The swirl of anticipation and anxiety appears to mesh his mind and body. Like some of the most iconic athletes we’ve seen in sports – Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Tiger Woods – Kohli is in the rarefied realm where he plays better when being seriously challenged and the pressure is percolating. It is as if he feels more comfortable when the intense spotlight is shone on him.
It was the ideal grand stage for Kohli to tap into his bag of tricks and produce another magical act. But the Hollywood-scripted ending looked implausible on numerous occasions because it defied logic and arithmetic.
As Kohli once again proved, the farfetched does repeatedly happen in sports. It was a masterly innings of 82 not out from 51 balls, the type that probably only a handful of batsmen in the history of the game could have engineered and pulled off.
After the powerplay, which India squandered, the pitch started to wear and slow. Runs were scored at a trickle and a disciplined Australia was strangling India’s nervy batsmen. Kohli started well with several piercing late cuts but seemed to have lost his rhythm after Yuvraj Singh suffered an ankle injury rendering his running between the wickets useless.
Kohli’s penchant for knocking the ball smartly around the field for twos were now only becoming singles because of Yuvraj’s shortcomings. Momentum was cruelled and the task suddenly seemed too difficult, even for Kohli.
It felt like Kohli may have misjudged the chase, as the overs kept ticking and India was now requiring a daunting 39 runs with just three overs left. Unruffled, Kohli proceeded to put on his cape and bludgeon 30 runs off 11 balls in the 18th and 19th overs to stunningly transform the match and propel India into the semi-final.
In many ways, Australia can feel unlucky they ran into a phenomenon who has a similar whiff of other superstar male athletes in their prime right now – Djokovic, Messi and Steph Curry in the NBA.
When Sachin Tendulkar retired in 2013, Australians breathed a sigh of relief knowing they would never have to encounter him anymore. But Kohli is Tendulkar 2.0. He is tormenting Australia much like the carnage Tendulkar inflicted for two decades.
You feel Australians are going to loathe and resent Kohli. Not only is he eviscerating them with the bat, Kohli is an agitator and provocateur. He’s animated and has a knack of getting under the skin of the Australians like few ever have. Unlike others who unwisely barked back, Kohli can legitimately back up his bravado with the bat.
In a strange quirk, and ironically, you sense Kohli has been influenced greatly by Australian teams. Forget the Ashes, Australia versus India has been cricket’s most competitive, emotional and dynamic rivalry of the past 20 years.
Accordingly, a whole generation of young Indian cricketers were likely influenced by those great Australian teams over the years. Perhaps he didn’t totally realise it, but Kohli was in some ways shaped by those cricketers from that bygone era.
Every time I watch Kohli, I am reminded of Ricky Ponting; whether it’s when Kohli devastatingly counterattacks off the back foot, the bat twirl after he completes a shot or his thin-skinned diatribes directed at opponents during media conferences.
There are so many parallels between Kohli and Ponting. Both aggressively dominate with self-confidence; they are prone to bouts of petulance, yet have intrinsic leadership qualities; they endured Test struggles early and were shifted around in their respective batting line-up.
This batch of Indian cricketers are the first from the technological era, where access to watching cricket from anywhere in the globe is possible thanks to the Internet and cable television. Thus, whether it was conscious or not, Kohli mimics Ponting stylistically with the bat and through personal mannerisms.
In some ways, Australia’s World T20 dreams were dashed by their by-product. Virat Kohli. You feel it’s not for the last time.
