Bharath Ramaraj at Centre of Excellence, Bangalore
Before the state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence was built, if someone had asked – what is Singahalli famous for? Yours truly would have had to rack his brains for a bit. Those in the Aerospace industry would end up pointing towards KIADB Aerospace Park. Even in this case, the Aerospace Park is about 15 km away. Here, just doing a simple AI could even lead you to Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh rather than Singahalli.
However, on a pleasant morning, as the taxi chugged along the service road before connecting with the 4113 km long NH 44, one could feel that something was different in the air. And that was due to the tight security in and around the CoE. As the security personnel went about performing their duties, the main gate was opened for the tourist bus to go inside the large premises. This was the very bus in which Virat Kohli was seated inside, alongside his Delhi teammates.
One had to zoom in on the lenses to get a peek of Kohli, sitting somewhere at the back of the bus. But that was enough for a few fans who had gathered outside, to scream his name out. One could count the number of fans who had come along with the help of fingers. In hindsight, it wasn’t exactly a head-scratching moment. One of the reasons could be that it was a last-minute decision to switch over to CoE from the Chinnaswamy, with the Andhra-Delhi game being played behind closed doors. For a while, it seemed as if cricket could once again find its place at the Chinnaswamy stadium.
Perhaps the concerned authorities weren’t sure of crowd control, with Kohli all set to play. Whatever the reason, the news of Kohli partaking in a game at the CoE had not spread yet. Also, Singahalli is far away from the hub of Bengaluru, and it would take a long drive for the city dwellers to make their way to the CoE. It was only somewhere in the evening, at around 5 PM, around 100-200 fans had made a beeline entry to catch a glimpse of the batting maestro.
In the aforesaid match between Andhra and Delhi, those few journalists, dignitaries, players from both sides, and the policemen witnessed a superlative Kohli hundred. It had all the pre-routine mannerisms and the range of strokes that you associate with Kohli – Lofts, whips, drives and dancing down the track. Even though he was more adventurous than usual. That was also on expected lines as he was up against a rather modest bowling attack.
The one bowler who won Kohli’s respect was Saurabh Kumar. It remains a mystery as to how one of the best spinners going around in the country hasn’t played a single Test match. Leaving aside that thought which echoed in the mind, it was a worthy battle. With his flight, drift, and the armer, Saurabh ensured that he wouldn’t be smashed around on a flat pitch and on a small ground.
Kohli was made to work hard for his runs as he tried to use the width of the crease to place him into gaps square of the wicket on both sides. When Kohli reached his ton, there was a muted celebration from the great cricketer. It was just another hundred for him in a chest full of treasured gems.
For a moment, let’s digress away from Kohli, the batter. Kohli, the fielder, also maintained his intensity levels through the first innings when Andhra batted. At times, Kohli was also seen directing the field. With Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Ishant Sharma in the ranks, it would have also motivated the likes of Priyansh Arya, Nitish Rana, Prince Yadav and Simarjeet Singh.
Incidentally, Simarjeet bagged a five-for and Prince mixed up his deceptive pace with variations to take three wickets. Priyansh also showcased his range of strokes. For Andhra, Ricky Bhui crunched an exemplary hundred. Yes, the conditions were batting-friendly but somewhere it felt as if Bhui had upgraded his game against pace.
Kohli, though, was the centre of attraction. His magnetic presence made fans from various parts of India to search google maps in order to locate a village called Singahalli.
