It was about that time in the game when he could have afforded a smile. He was nearing 80, the runs remaining to be scored were under 50 and overs were never a problem. It had become clear by then that Australia had almost given up, after seeing India claw back from a tight spot in what was the World Cup opener for both teams.
Virat Kohli mistimed a shot off his pads. It was a delivery he tried to push into the gap. He did not make proper contact and the ball did not travel much, denying him the single he was eyeing. Not that he was beaten. He still let out a cry of frustration, even cursed himself. There was no need to do that. The critical period was over. The job was nearly complete.
This dissatisfaction was a glimpse of how intensely focussed Kolhi is at the moment. It was a stage of the game when nobody would have noticed a minor application error that cost nothing. But he was not happy because he was trying to be as perfect as possible. The match against Australia was almost won. This was a game against himself. There is no room for mistakes in this exercise.
An understudy in the company of some illustrious names in 2011, the world’s best ODI batter in 2015, captain of the team and still the boss of the format in 2019 to a great player in flow who is free of additional burdens in 2023 — Kohli has arrived at this World Cup in a role he was not seen in before. He remains the fulcrum of the batting, but liberated of other thoughts.
He knows exactly what his body and mind are capable of and looks intent on making optimum use. And he is in prime shape. Spending nearly three hours at the crease in sultry Chennai after fielding for four hours (that’s how long India took to bowl their overs), absorbing pressure at a decisive phase of a high-octane World Cup match and collecting 61 of his 85 runs in ones and twos — this is someone opponents will be desperate to see the back of.
Kohli worked hard, made sacrifices and took tough decisions to get where he is now. It’s not easy to give up captaincy, especially for someone who had handled it from the under-19 stage. But he realised that to draw on the best he has, something had to give. After ending a three-year wait for a century last December, his average in 16 ODIs this year is 58.08, with three hundreds and fifties apiece.
Fortune smiled on him early on in the chase under the lights, when Mitch Marsh dropped a catch. There were other nervy moments at the start. He was not at his smoothest. But once he got through that period, Kohli controlled the game with KL Rahul. There was no rush, no unnecessary adrenaline and no more nervy moments. It was evident why it is said that few know better how to pace an innings under these circumstances.
“You don’t want to play Virat in the World Cup,” former Eoin Morgan, England’s World Cup-winning captain in 2019, had told RevSportz in an interview before this match. Morgan explained that Kohli is the kind of player who likes the big stage and draws from the occasion to perform at his best. There are not many better examples of what that means than this innings of 85. Someone seems eager to carry hopes on his shoulders.