Legendary Cricketers have the habit of playing innings that leave you in awe for a while. I am very sure everyone who witnessed Virat Kohli’s genius with the bat last night, will tell you that they woke up this morning in disbelief about it. I have been following Virat Kohli since his 2nd year in International Cricket, and I regard that innings last night as his best in T20s. Yes there was the one against Australia in the WT20 in 2016, or the chase against Pakistan in the Asia Cup in the same year, but there was something very different about this innings against the West Indies that surpassed all of his magnificent knocks.
94* off 50 deliveries. One’d look at that and say WOW he struck at a SR of close to 200, but things were very different in the first 24 deliveries of the Indian captain’s knock. He was struggling to time the ball, they were all coming off the edge, and it looked as though the chase was going to be a steep one for India. The Windies players riled Virat up as soon as he came out in the middle, with everyone gathering and chirping a few words. It looked like that got to Virat, as he was looking to hit the ball hard, quite uncharacteristic of the man who is known to be a proficient timer of the ball.
They say good batsmen go back and analyse after getting out, and rectify the technical errors in the next innings. Well, the difference between good batsmen and great batsmen is that the latter don’t wait for the next innings to rectify their mistakes. That’s exactly what Virat Kohli did in the second half of his knock. Understood that he was looking to add pace to deliveries that were already coming on pretty well, and then rectified that mistake by resorting back to the way he knows how to play best. Time the ball, play proper Cricketing shots that still fetch you runs at a good pace.
From then on, Virat played some shots that will be etched in the memory of all Cricket fans. Yes, the flick over mid-wicket was scintillating, and is rightly talked about a billion times already; but those sixes over covers, or the one over Mid-off were absolutely breathtaking. Anyone who has played Cricket will know it’s not easy to go over cover, let alone hit a six that flat. Not just the boundaries, Virat made sure that he ran between the wickets hard, converted ones into twos, and pushed everyone he was batting with to run the first one hard, regardless of the fact that he himself was batting for over an hour. Not just that, he also looked like the Virat Kohli of the past, who would take the opposition on with words, stare them down and let them know who’s the boss.
That, to me was a knock I’ll be remembering and talking about for a long time, and so will all the fans across the globe. Virat Kohli is taking the standard of not just batting, but also Indian Cricket to a place that has never been explored before. He is inspiring a generation to not just play Cricket, but also show them how it is done, and what is expected of them. Not only will Virat Kohli end up as the greatest to have graced the sport, he will leave a legacy that will be carried forward for generations to come.
-Vibhor Dubey
The Average Cricketer 