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Follow UsIt was 2014.
Virat Kohli scored hundreds in both innings of the Adelaide Test. In one of those two boisterous celebrations, he could be seen sending a flying kiss with his bat towards Anushka Sharma.
For me, that’s when peak Kohli began. He already had superb 2012 and 2013 in Test cricket. However, it was this away Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series in 2014 that made me go gaga over the possibilities of yet another all-time batting great gracing the Indian Test team after Sachin Tendulkar. He scored runs in that series as if he was born on those pitches and played ‘I spy’ with the Aussie bowlers as a kid.
From 2016 to 2020, he entered a phase unseen in Indian cricket. Not only did he have the third-best batting average (58.71) in those four years (only behind Steve Smith’s 72 and Kane Williamson’s 61.96), but he was also making Test cricket cool. The impact of those years with him at the helm of Indian cricket can’t be summed up in batting averages alone. It was his 'a god in human clothing' phase.
However, along with Covid, a batting pandemic in Test cricket also arrived with averages falling across teams and conditions indiscriminately. Kohli went through a bad patch not only in Tests but in all three formats. He became a human from a batting god.
His defensive game was seriously affected. He had the fourth-lowest defensive shot per dismissal between 2020-24 (with a filter of at least 1000 defensive shots). His front-foot trigger and adamant game plan to stick to it were creating even more issues for him at home than away.
Gradually, Kohli became more fallible and human as ‘common’ batting errors started blotting his records.
So when he comes out and scores a hundred in Perth in 2024, you want to jump and announce the ‘Return of the King’ from those same peaks he attained during his batting prime.
However, this wasn’t the kind of dominating innings that pushes you to create a delusion of grandeur to highlight its incredulity. It was an innings played by a man who learned to adapt and persevere until he triumphed.
When Kohli came to the crease, the Indians were already dominating, with 275/2 on the board and a lead of 321. However, the new ball was just four overs old and Kohli was going to be tested.
The first 10 balls he was almost as fidgety and uncertain as he was in the first innings of this Test. However, once he saw through that phase, he started looking more resolute and affirmed in his decision-making.
The best example of that was the way he dealt with Nathan Lyon, who was bowling a brilliant spell post lunch on Day 3. He was getting the ball to turn after pitching, and Kohli had to ensure his defence was watertight to fight through that spell. Not only Kohli played him with almost 90% control, he even cut him on the backfoot and hit him straight down the ground for a six (two shots you’ll rarely see him play).
However, minds were blown when he actually pulled out a reverse sweep against Lyon and got a four for it. If records are to be believed, this was only his 19th reverse sweep from the 3645 balls of spin he has faced in his professional career.
What stood out in his 81st international century today was how he also didn’t relent on any scoring opportunity provided by the Aussie pacers. On a pitch like Perth, the back of the length and short deliveries are hard to score against (despite not being very lethal), as the bounce and pace on the pitch increase the risks of dismissal while stroke-making.
However, the Indian maestro through his immense ability to still be as elite against high pace and bounce at 36 as he was at 26, scored at a strike rate of 106.3 against back-of-length deliveries. The six he hit over the third man, where he rose with the ball and just slashed it, was a testament to his innate class.
His old methods had stopped working for him, both against spin and pace. So here he was, reverse sweeping to find runs for his team. He was jumping to short deliveries and slashing them.
This was a man who had to accept his reality and adapt accordingly to the needs of his team rather than live in the delusion of his greatness. This wasn’t an innings with a touch of inevitability or dominance that we associate with Kohli.
This was an innings that showed us a human side of him, and it was there for all to see when he hesitated to start celebrating his century until he was 100% sure that the ball he hit actually reached the boundary, and wasn’t stopped by the fielder.
We all saw it again when he gave a flying kiss with his bat to Anushka in the stands, who has stayed with him all throughout this phase of being questioned, trolled and dejected.
And then, finally, we saw it when he pushed a shy Yashasvi Jaiswal ahead of the team to lead them back to the pavilion after scoring a daddy hundred on debut in Australia.
This wasn’t a brash, in-your-face Kohli, who was high on his talent as he conquered the cricketing world one century at a time. This was a Kohli who had come to terms with his humanness. A Kohli who inspires not only as a cricketer on the field but also as a human being off it.
