Virat Kohli’s versatility, bound and sealed by Wisden

It’s a near foolproof approach that has made Kohli a giant of the game—adept at firefighting, grafting as well as chasing with authority; in short, a run machine.

Wisden’s in-depth review of teams across formats this decade may trigger a few debates, but there can be none about Virat Kohli being the only cricketer to find place in all three teams. Not only is it a validation of Kohli’s match-winning ability but also the hunger to make his presence felt in any condition and against any opposition. It’s a near foolproof approach that has made Kohli a giant of the game—adept at firefighting, grafting as well as chasing with authority; in short, a run machine.

India's Virat Kohli (PTI)

A glance at his numbers proves this decade belonged to Kohli. He has scored 20,960 runs in 386 matches—the most played by a cricketer this decade—across the three formats this decade. The next best is South Africa’s Hashim Amla with 15,185 runs (286 matches), followed by England Test captain Joe Root (14,108 runs, 264 matches), New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson (14,016 runs, 284 matches) and David Warner (13,778 runs, 260 matches). The only player to score more 2,000 boundaries this decade (2,090), Kohli’s batting typically hinges on a proper defence, shots along the ground and tireless running between the wickets—a template he has successfully applied across all formats.

Kohli’s risk-taking propensity also depends on the format. When it comes to hitting sixes, he is the most adventurous in the shortest format, where he still averages one per innings, abysmally low compared to other top T20 batsmen. His T20I strike rate (138) may also have taken a slight hit because of this, but Kohli more than makes up by trying to make every innings count. In other formats however Kohli doesn’t take the aerial route much. In ODIs, he averages one six every two innings while in Tests it dips to one six in just over six innings. What seals his spot in the ODI and T20I teams is his average that goes through the roof while batting second—68.66 from 50.25 in ODIs, and 86.76 from 35 in T20Is. That and his persuasive batting in Tests, where he averages 54.97, 74.85, 36.72 and 49.77 in the four innings (depending on whether India have batted first or second). It already makes Kohli one of the all-time great batsmen.

The only other specialist batsman (Jos Buttler has been named in two teams, but has been chosen purely as wicketkeeper in T20Is) to feature in more than one team is David Warner, who finds a place in the Test and ODI sides. Interestingly, Warner endured a forgettable Ashes series in England—scoring 95 runs in 10 innings—this summer after returning from a one-year ban for the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town in March, 2018. That takes nothing away from the Australia opener who has scored 7,088 runs in 83 Tests this decade, just 114 runs fewer and a match less than Kohli. Warner’s record of 23 Test centuries—four less than Kohli—and 30 fifties—eight more than Kohli—may indicate Kohli is better than Warner at converting fifties into hundreds, but overall, he is almost as prolific as the India captain.

Dale Steyn and Lasith Malinga are the only specialist bowlers to make it to more than one team. Malinga is a classic case of mind over body, combating fitness issues for the longer part of his career to consistently remain Sri Lanka’s best death-over bowler. Dismissing four of England’s top-six in the World Cup win at Leeds was the latest proof of Malinga’s age-defying match-altering skills. It is something Sri Lanka came to rely on after the retirement of stalwarts like Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Muttiah Muralitharan. He was almost always a lone act, unlike the now-retired Steyn, who got strong support from Morne Morkel, Jacques Kallis and Vernon Philander throughout his career. Still, Steyn was a class apart when it came to ripping apart batting line-ups.

With 26 fifers, Steyn is fifth on the all-time list of pacers to have taken the most five-wicket hauls, behind Richard Hadlee (36), Glenn McGrath (29), Ian Botham and James Anderson (both 27). There is no disputing the home advantage given 16 of the five-wicket hauls has come in South Africa. But Steyn is most revered for some memorable bowling away from home—like the 10-wicket match haul against India in Nagpur in 2010 that laid the base for a massive innings victory. It was really in 2008 that Steyn had hit his stride, taking 10/154 in the nine-wicket win at the MCG, and 8/114 in the innings and 90-run win on a benign Ahmedabad pitch. Serious pace, armed with the ability to swing the ball both ways, and the discipline to plug away at a spot for lengthy spells make Steyn one-of-a-kind.

No Pakistan player figures in the three teams that have six Australians, five Indians, five from England, three South Africans, two Sri Lankans, two New Zealanders, two from Afghanistan and one from Bangladesh. Some of them are automatic choices. Like Sangakkara, who was one of the most graceful left-handed batsmen the game has seen. Or Steve Smith, who now has scored 500-plus runs in three consecutive Ashes, something even Don Bradman couldn’t achieve. MS Dhoni, who led India to the 2011 World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy, was credited for redefining the way 50-over matches are finished. Shakib Al Hasan is Bangaldesh’s best player ever while Wisden partly attributed R Ashwin’s inclusion in the Test squad as the sole spinner to his batting ability. Jasprit Bumrah too found a place in the T20I team, though he has been more effective in ODIs and Tests of late.

Wisden XIs:

Test team of the decade: Alastair Cook, David Warner, Kumar Sangakkara, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli (capt), Ben Stokes, AB de Villiers, R Ashwin, Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, James Anderson

ODI team of the decade: Rohit Sharma, Warner, Kohli, De Villiers, Jos Buttler, MS Dhoni, Shakib Al Hasan, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult, Steyn

T20I team of the decade: Aaron Finch (c), Colin Munro, Kohli, Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell, Buttler (wk), Mohammad Nabi, David Willey, Rashid Khan, Bumrah, Malinga

WATCH | Virat Kohli only Indian in Ricky Ponting’s Test team of the decade