Shamik Chakrabarty in Colombo
At the stadium entrance, a local fan spoke about his love for Virat Kohli. Sporting a No. 18 shirt, he made a bold prediction about his hero scoring a hundred in the third ODI. If that would mean a defeat for Sri Lanka, he wouldn’t mind. The fan must have left the ground heartbroken.
The second ball that Kohli faced, from medium-pacer Asitha Fernando, flew off a thick outside edge and just wide of backward point to the boundary. He looked a tad uncertain but gradually settled down. The way Kohli opened the face of the bat at the last minute against another Fernando delivery for a four to the fine third boundary was wonderful. A lofted drive to the mid-wicket fence followed.
As long as Kohli and Rohit Sharma were at the crease, India looked comfortable. Once again, as the skipper got out, trying to slog-sweep Dunith Wellalage and getting a bottom edge to the ‘keeper, the tourists became jittery. Rishabh Pant was making a comeback to the ODI side after a gap of almost two years. Although he started with a four against Wellalage, the southpaw paid the price for committing himself a little too early against Maheesh Theekshana and getting out stumped in the process. At 63/3, India were suddenly under pressure, chasing 249 for victory. The onus fell on Kohli.
But Kohli perished to Wellalage, playing down the wrong line to an arm ball. He reviewed, but it was a stonewall LBW. He finished the three-match series with 58 runs at an average of 19.33. Just three games are a small sample size, but somehow the great batter has become inconsistent of late.
In the second ODI also, Kohli got out playing down the wrong line, as a Jeffrey Vandersay leg-break sneak past the bat. He was out leg-before in the first game as well.
It would be improper to say that the 35-year-old is in decline. Only about a month ago, he scored 76 off 59 balls in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa to win the Player of the Match award. Then again, that was an innings in isolation. Until the final, he wasn’t hitting his straps.
After winning 10 ODI rubbers on the spin against Sri Lanka, India lost one to the islanders and it would be wrong to single out Kohli for the failure. Apart from Rohit, India failed here as a batting unit. To be fair, the Sri Lankan spinners exposed India’s batting vulnerability on turning tracks. The tourists lost 27 wickets to spin in the series.
“Batting-wise, we weren’t smart enough, we weren’t brave enough,” Rohit said at the post-match press conference. “It’s all about individual plans in such conditions. We have to be a little careful in terms of choosing the personnel.”
Coming back to the game, some of the dismissals were poor. Axar Patel misjudged the length to be castled by Wellalage. Shreyas Iyer departed in the same over, misreading the turn. Debutant Riyan Parag shouldered arm to a Vandersay delivery that was angling into the stumps. All said and done, however, Kohli is seen as a match-winner. India banked on him in tough conditions, in a must-win game.
He was India’s highest run-getter — 765 runs in 11 matches — in last year’s World Cup. That was his last 50-over outing before this series. He can’t be suddenly losing his mojo. Maybe, Kohli and the Indian team suffered from a withdrawal syndrome after the high of the T20 World Cup. It can happen in a relatively low-key series, coming from a high-octane affair. Gautam Gambhir and his support staff will have to ensure that this is just a one-off.