When people write a history of the 50-overs format in 2075—the format that had its first World Cup in 1975 – Virat Kohli will perhaps be at the top of the pile in terms of players who have played this form of cricket. Fifty-three hundreds and counting, it is not just about the centuries or the volume of runs scored. The truth is he has never lost form in this particular format.
Take red-ball cricket. Kohli had an issue with the ball on or outside the off stump. He fell to shots behind the wicket multiple times. In T20 cricket, he doesn’t have the power game of someone like an Abhishek Sharma or a Travis Head. But in the 50-over variety, it is Kohli who rules. It is as if this is a format built for him. He has the time to get going, he has the time to showcase his versatility and intensity, and finally, he has the time to explode—like he did in Raipur.
Unlike in Australia, where he looked rusty, in this series Kohli has been wired from ball one. Game time is what he needed, and Australia—more specifically Sydney—had given him that. The SCG innings was the confidence builder, and Ranchi just followed. Raipur is the second chapter, and from ball one he was on song. No false shots, no real push for the big hit, and yet there was always the release shot around the corner.
Sachin Tendulkar once said that the best thing about Kohli in this format is his peripheral vision. He manages to read the game extremely well and knows when to play that one release stroke to take control. While he has no parallel in a run chase, in the last two innings, the way he paced his effort has been commendable.
We have been hearing of a meeting that was to happen to decide the future of Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Like I wrote in the morning, you don’t decide for players who score back-to-back hundreds—they do. There is nothing beyond performance in sport, and that’s what you are getting from Kohli and Rohit, more often than not. The only thing that needs doing is taking them into confidence and charting the way ahead. They have served the sport for the longest time and deserve to have a say in their future. They have earned it, and every hundred is a reminder.
Finally, if anyone wants to play the sport, Kohli could be the template for how hungry you need to be. It is not about one hundred or two. It is about the continued quest for excellence. Each day that you turn up, you try and make it count. Yes, on some days you will fail, but the quest has to be continuous and persistent. That’s the Virat Kohli story—he tries to be perfect even on an imperfect day and does the decisive one percent with the same intensity as he does the other 99. Like I have said before, let’s just enjoy it for as long as it lasts. He is the biggest crowd-puller ever, and has yet again given the fans a memory to cherish.
