Nandre Burger bowled one from that typical left-armer’s slanted angle for a right-hand batter. Movement in the air or off the pitch was minimal. But this over-the-wicket line and that particular length were such that the delivery had ‘play me’ written all over it.
Virat Kohli displayed restraint of an alien nature to let that go. He appeared to be in good position. Head would have been right above the ball had he chosen to make contact. Something told him not to. Everything about that delivery was so perfect that it went sniffing his back thigh. It had eventually opened him up. Any attempt to touch the ball would have resulted in an outside edge.
During his 94-minute stay on a sticky wicket, Kohli demonstrated some rare traits that the circumstances demanded. It was a difficult pitch to bat on, even though the bowling was not consistently probing from both ends in the first session. The ball was wobbling and there was carry. Wickets were bound to fall, irrespective of the degree of caution exercised on the part of the batters.
That’s why this knock of 38 was a lesson in how to handle such situations. Not everything was perfect. It was impossible to be so in these conditions. He could have gone for four had a catch been taken on the leg side. There were a couple of other occasions early on when the ball lobbed off his bat and fell safely. But it was difficult to find major faults in his game in general.
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Kohli was in as much control of the situation as one could have been. There were two flicked fours where the balance and positioning of the body while meeting the ball left the TV commentators in ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’. It was not an easy pitch to drive the ball. Yet, two shots he played past either side of mid-off were pictures of perfection. And his judgement outside off was almost unreal, that leave off Burger being the pinnacle.
One of the charms of cricket is not all memorable deeds are monumental in stature. Former England opener Len Hutton, who once held the world record for the highest individual Test score of 364, rated a 30-odd against Australia on a treacherous turf as his finest effort. Sunil Gavaskar considers a 50-plus in Manchester as his most perfect innings. In the same vein, this 64-ball knock of Kohli’s should rate as a masterclass in handling adversities.
Other than technique, application, concentration and determination, negotiating such situations requires a batter to eschew ego. Irrespective of greatness and past deeds, one has to accept that the bowler is the boss, at least for the time being. The bat has to become subservient and treat the ball with respect. It’s not as simple or basic as it sounds, if the batter in question happens to have 80 international centuries under his belt.
That was one of the hallmarks of this knock from Kohli. He accepted that the world might consider him to be the best, but on this day he had to behave as if he were a novice. It had to be head down and bat straight all the time. Exchanging glares with the bowler was alright, but it was important not to get too much into mind games. It was not the time to boss around, but be bossed over and behave accordingly.
KL Rahul’s innings was perhaps less circumspect. It was definitely more productive and might prove to be much more important in the context of this Test. But it would still be hard to ignore the way Kohli tried to blunt the attack. It took the ball of the day — that one from Kagiso Rabada might remain the ball of the series as well — to dislodge him. By then, he had dished out a mini-classic.
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