Out of runs, walls closing in on Virat Kohli

Rohit Sharma has backed the former captain’s quality, but can Virat successfully raise his batting tempo to fit into India’s plans?

Cricket is changing in front of our eyes and conservative batting is being given the thumbs down. England may be batting bold even in Test cricket, but T20 cricket has been pushing the limits of risk-taking for long.

 India's Virat Kohli walks back to the pavilion after getting dismissed during the 3rd T20I match between India and England, at Trent Bridge Stadium (ICC Twitter)

Now, India wants to pick up speed in their white-ball game. Playing your natural game is going out of syllabus and quick runs are fast becoming the in-thing. The resurgent Hardik Pandya calls it ‘peak T20 cricket’. After the England series, skipper Rohit Sharma gave the example of Sunday’s match (Suryakumar Yadav) and of the Ireland T2OIs (Deepak Hooda) where batters ‘exceeded their own expectations’ by ‘batting freely’.

India’s changed batting tempo is evident in the numbers. Between the T20 World Cups in 2016 and 2021, they scored at a run rate of 8.66 with 16.9% boundaries. After last year’s World Cup debacle, their run rate has picked up, going to 9.35 with 20.78% in boundaries.

Every batter has been asked to buy into this idea. The struggling Virat Kohli is no exception.

Kohli could only add a couple of more failures in the England T20 series to his burgeoning list of poor scores. He lasted only three balls in the 2nd T2OI. In the 3rd, his six-ball 11 showed Kohli was trying to fit into the team’s idea of an ultra-aggressive top-order batter.

“It’s a bit of both,” said Sharma, when asked if the aggression in Kohli’s batting was his own way or that of the team. “All the players who are part of the squad are willing to take that extra risk. Unless you try it, you will never be able to find out.” Sharma and Rahul Dravid might have used the same selling pitch to Kohli in person.

Sharma has now taken a dashing route, a departure from his past template of getting set and then gradually accelerating. “We have been trying to do that for a while and some days it may not come off. But we don’t want to be afraid to take the extra risk,” he said.

But taking risks has not been Kohli’s way and it may require him to tweak his batting significantly. Even in his bumper 2016 IPL season, his powerplay strike rate was a middling 120.86. But he was in such good nick that he raised the tempo in the middle overs to strike at 151.97, then going ballistic at the death (219.81).

He isn’t staying in that long these days, and India are unwilling to let batters play themselves in. When a top-order batter like Kohli struggles to kick on after consuming deliveries, the team can be at the receiving end, as Royal Challengers Bangalore found out this IPL. Though Kohli’s strike rate in the powerplay (116.78) was the same as his career numbers, bowlers dried up his runs in the middle overs (SR 116.03) and he was unable to bat on to do any damage in the death overs (29 runs, SR 111.53).

For now, India appear keen to stay invested in Kohli for his big-match experience with the World Cup in Australia around three months away. But for how long will this thinking remain?

Kohli is likely to miss Tuesday’s first ODI at the Oval due to a groin niggle suffered in the final T20 defeat against England, PTI quoted an unnamed BCCI official as saying.

“A player will always be in and out of form. But a player’s quality does not become poor. This quality is being backed,” Sharma said in response to a specific question on Kohli’s place. “When someone has been doing well consistently over the years, it should not be overlooked in a series or two or a year or so.”

Sharma also did not agree with Kapil Dev’s comments questioning Kohli’s T20I place.

But after spreading the selection net wide following the 2021 World Cup, the selectors also have a number of exciting options to consider. Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Hooda have batted at Kohli’s No 3 position in his absence, and most of them, particularly Hooda, have made the most of the opportunities. In the six matches Hooda has played this year, he strikes at 172.

Besides, KL Rahul’s return is expected to cause a log-jam for top-order slots. Sharma has said India will continue to up the ante. “You may take more risks in T2Os, less in ODIs. But we will take risks. We have to get into the habit of playing freely,” he said.

Kohli’s indifferent form has extended to Tests, and to ODI cricket too (6 ODIs, 142 runs, avg 23.66 in 2022). But it is the one format the former captain aces with a phenomenal batting average (58.07). He will be keen to rediscover his form fast. If not, the walls will be closing in.