Virat Kohli and mastering a run chase

He silenced all doubters with another masterclass to help India achieve a thrilling run chase and beat Pakistan in the T20 World Cup at the MCG.

This isn’t the Virat Kohli you and I know from 2019. The world said there is nothing indisputable about him anymore because Kohli couldn’t score a century for close to three years. Yet, Pakistan fear and revere him. That’s why a callow Mohammad Nawaz ends up bowling a wide after Kohli swats him for a six.

Virat Kohli (AP)

Forget records. Kohli staring at the bowler with piercing eyes, nostrils flared, bat held up with intent is the real deal. It invokes awe, triggers doubt and stirs up nervous conversations. India-Pakistan is 90% nerve, 10% skill. And no one was in more control of his nerve at the MCG on Sunday than Kohli. Till he finally gave in. Or were we dreaming? Wasn’t he wiping away a tear? Emotion flowed as Kohli slid home at the other end, sinking to punch the ground repeatedly. From 31/4 to signing off with a sensational win, Kohli once again relived the greatness he has demonstrated again and again.

It was questions on diminishing greatness that would have rankled. The rigours of cricket insulate even the most emotional player but the past many months had touched a raw nerve. Never has Kohli looked so human on a cricket field. Neither has he looked so majestic as he did on Sunday. It isn’t about the strike rate or average. It’s the assortment of shots interspersed with hard running at every opportunity that makes Kohli such an engaging batter to watch every time. That swivel of the hip while long-ranging Haris Rauf over his head was done to stay in balance. And the flicked six off the next ball was about sweetly connecting and timing. Kohli rarely muscles the ball through the leg.

What he does so smoothly is pull off the back foot, front foot, off his hips, and flat bat slightly shorter deliveries. Shaheen Shah Afridi was picked from well outside off and clattered through deep midwicket. There was a pull over fine-leg and then across the line off Nawaz too. Every time Kohli was in total control of the shot. He knows exactly when to pull or clip the bowler, play inside-out or through point. Nothing goes past him. He has two shots for every ball. But over and above everything is that indefatigable winning temperament that makes Kohli such a magnificent competitor. There is no one way to chase in T20. And luckily for India, Kohli is an extremely versatile batter. He respects the situation, bides his time and then attacks. It was no different at the MCG.

With the asking rate climbing, the first trigger came in the 12th over, bowled by Nawaz. Kohli was on 15 off 23 balls. Nawaz, brimming with confidence after conceding just nine in two overs, came on to bowl his third. The excitement triggered by an overenthusiastic leg-before appeal against Kohli was doused next ball when he skipped down the crease and lifted Nawaz over his head for six. That was his first boundary hit. Then it was the turn of Afridi, Kohli glancing him past short fine-leg. The wheels were turning. Kohli was accelerating.

Things came to a head when India needed 48 from 18 balls. Afridi erred in length, meaning Kohli could bring out his pull to reach fifty. Under pressure, Afridi bowled a wide next ball before again being lifted over extra-cover for four. Another four, this time Kohli pulling him over short fine-leg. Thirty needed off 12 balls, Rauf almost pulled it off with 1,1, 0 and 1 before Kohli unfurled a bit of magic. Length ball and a touch slower, and Kohli backed away to hit it over Nawaz’s head for six. One more six and India couldn’t have lost the game, not with Kohli around. This was batting at its intoxicating best, keeping fans on knife edge while threading the field with surgical precision and staying in touch with a challenging asking rate.

Only Kohli knew how to finish it, with a dash of extravagance and dollops of patience. When he crossed over to the other end, Kohli was seen asking Dinesh Karthik to stay calm, knock the ball and run. It was as basic as that. But Karthik played across and got stumped, pushing the game till the last ball.

This new version of Kohli is sharpness personified, in a more positive, elegant and calm manner. If there was adrenaline, Kohli didn’t show it. That’s the hallmark of a chaser, a fighter, someone you want to go to battle for you. Kohli bats for a cause. He bats to win. Let that sink in again.