From a purely competitive perspective, India quelled expectations that the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 league game against South Africa would be the clash of the titans. Yet, the whopping 243-run victory at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday was not bereft of some phases of very attritional cricket.
On a track that changed character with time, Virat Kohli chiseled out a workmanlike knock with the surety of a seasoned craftsman to gift himself a century. It was a day on which ugly was beautiful, as aesthetics took a back seat to efficiency. It was an occasion when elegance and style were shrouded by the dictates of the pitch and a challenging South African attack.
To begin with, he had to control, if not hide, his emotions more than usual when at the batting crease, because all of Eden Gardens was celebrating his 35th birthday and willing him to get the 49th hundred that would move him alongside Sachin Tendulkar and the record for the most ODI centuries.
When he walked in to bat at the fall of Rohit Sharma’s wicket, Kohli responded to his feelings – and to the conditions, as well as the South African attack – with a clear head. It did not matter to him that after he had fallen for 95, 0 and 88 in the three innings after he got his 48th ODI hundred. It was as if he only reminded himself of his abilities and backed them.
The contest between him and Kagiso Rabada, South Africa’s premier pace bowler, was gripping. Had it not been for the white cricket ball and coloured clothes, that attritional passage of play could have come straight out of a Test match. Even though one was watching only two-dimensional images, one could feel the sparks fly, not to speak of nerves of the rattled and calm variety.
In his opening over, Rabada cranked up his pace and generated bounce. He had his tail up, seeing the back of Rohit, India’s captain, to a sharp catch by Temba Bavuma at mid-off. He then welcomed and tested Kohli with some short deliveries and lateral movement. The birthday boy survived, scrapping hard, taking three fours off the paceman.
The first two were through extra-cover, one a characteristic drive along the ground and the second an airy shot that teased Bavuma at mid-off, but was well out of his reach. The third was a superb push between the non-striker Shubman Gill and the umpire. These were punctuated by Rabada sneaking the ball past Kohli’s defence.
In fact, moments after he hit his first four off Rabada, Kohli flirted with a length ball outside the off stump before withdrawing his bat at the last moment. He then presented a dead bat to one that landed on a good length but the ball, seemingly implored by the pace bowler, bounded behind him and leapt tantalisingly over the wicket, making 60,000 hearts skip a beat at the same time.
Another wicket would have put South Africa on top, but Kohli and Shreyas Iyer stemmed the tide at that stage. However, it defied logic that Bavuma, South Africa’s captain, took Rabada out of the firing line after he had bowled five inside the first 14 overs in the Indian innings. It was not until the 36th over that he returned to the bowling crease.
It was another matter that Keshav Maharaj, the left-arm spinner drawing some purchase from the track, tied Shreyas up in knots and shone through another engaging passage of play. The importance of Kohli surviving that intense battle with Rabada could be seen from the fact that he scored 29 off 27 balls from the paceman, while the others made 19 off 33 deliveries.
Later, with the pitch getting sluggish, Kohli refused to be affected by the slowing scoring rate. He continued to play the role assigned to him and batted deep into the Indian innings while the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja picked up the bulk of the 87 runs made in the last 10 overs.
Kohli edged the first legal delivery from Tabraiz Shamsi, the left-arm wrist-spinner, but Quinton de Kock grassed a tough leg-side chance behind the stumps. Kohli chose not to be tempted to hit big strokes off Shamsi, whose adopted a leg-stump line with the intention of inducing a false shot. He disciplined himself and played a key role in thwarting his wrist spin.
Kohli’s ability to carry no vanity to the batting crease helped him carve out an unbeaten 101. The brilliance of his effort was magnified many times over when South Africa crumbled to a total that was 18 runs fewer than his individual score. That he lasted 44.1 overs, concentrating hard on keeping the opposition at bay, was a reflection of a deep understanding of the demanding role given to him.