Kohli's moves are either successes, or they're things of the past © AFP
Virat Kohli slumps over with his hands on the knees as he gasps for air. He's been hit on the ribs by a fierce short delivery from Kagiso Rabada. It's not a crippling blow though. Certainly not something which will shake Kohli's confidence up. He's broadening his shoulders again, getting back into stance. Next one's another short ball, and it's been sent soaring over fine leg. This is ODI cricket. It is Kohli's yard.
You May Watch This Interview Of Virat After Match
http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-videos/22368/our-job-is-to-play-cricket-not-to-create-headlines-virat-kohli
When he's not busy looking furious at Rohit Sharma for running him out, Kohli is scoring runs in ODIs. He has scored 558 runs at an average of 186.00 to lead India to their maiden series win in South Africa. This is the most runs by any player in a bilateral ODI series ever. His batting has reached heights which very few can comprehend, let alone scale. The energy hasn't diminished one bit from his younger days. It's all running for Kohli. And it's not only restricted to ODIs, the same applies to all formats.
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Even with the barrier of a TV screen, the bubble of energy surrounding Kohli - in whatever he's doing - is quite tangible. If you live in the vicinity of an India game, you could probably hear him roar upon opening the window. There are many captains who prefer to maintain a stoic appearance so that they don't give much away. Kohli is not one of them.
He even goes a step further as he proceeds to goad the opposition. He will celebrate right in the faces of dismissed batsmen. He will sledge the incoming ones. At times, he will be disgruntled with umpires, match-referees, his teammates, himself. Then at other times, he will giggle along with them. This is a man with perhaps the most scrutinized job in world cricket. But you wouldn't be able to tell looking at him, because if there's one thing which defines Kohli, it's how he backs himself to do almost anything, which he has time and again shown on this tour.
Make what you will of his infamous boast to Murali Vijay of batting until evening, or his non-stop chatter with Hardik Pandya to help with the reverse-swing, Kohli was so sure about himself that he genuinely looked more focused about what was happening at the other end.
His confidence is not always well-placed of course. Sometimes it's baffling how he overlooks, or worse, denies pretty obvious things. But Kohli is stubborn like that. The pitch at Centurion was uncharacteristically sluggish for the second Test. India felt the need for a close-in slip fielder even with pacers bowling. Now, Kohli's record at normal slips itself is poor. This is close-in slip, which is at least five yards closer than normal. The difficulty is ramped up many notches. So guess who he eventually chose for the role with a helmet on? That's right.
That's what Kohli does. He goes out of his way to be conspicuous about not admitting weakness. It was the same with Ajinkya Rahane's exclusion too. The Indian captain was so difficult about it. He sledged reporters who dared raise question marks. He bent them into submission. Kohli's moves are either successes, or they're things of the past.
International cricket is a hard grind. It's barely logical to invite more pressure than there already is. Why rebuff reporters questioning team-selections? Why banter with hostile overseas crowds? Why get under the opponent's skin, to such an extent that they're desperate to give you a receipt?
Now this is the part where it gets very good, and which explains his confidence. It's the part where Kohli has a bat in hand. He's made for the grind.
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There's often a list of dos and don'ts that a bowler has while planning for a batsman. In limited-overs cricket, that list is mostly reduced to a bunch of don'ts in order to restrict run-scoring. The don'ts against Kohli go something like this: don't bowl short - he'll pull, don't bowl wide - he now plays the cut more often, don't bowl for the drive - he'll nail it, don't bowl anything starting from the inside of off-stump - you'll be flicked off the face of the earth, don't bowl spin - he'll milk it, don't bowl. DON'T BOWL.
There are stages in ODIs where most players use release shots to counter the growing pressure. These shots are fraught with risk. Kohli doesn't do risks. He doesn't have release shots, he has wrists. He hardly plays the slog-sweep, although he did play one in the final ODI because he was bored of the series. He hardly hits the ball in the air - which lends to his unprecedented levels of consistency. And he still has the capability to score so freely.
"Today I was feeling really good. Just decided to start timing the ball," is what he said after his third hundred of the ODI series to seal it 5-1. That's all he does. He times the ball. It's very easy. But for that, you'll have to be Kohli.
In Test matches, there's known to be a sixth stump corridor that teams have targetted against Kohli in seaming conditions, as England advertised in 2014. There was this uncontrollable urge which he had to hang his bat out to dry. Of course, this weakness could only be exploited in certain conditions which are hard to find in most corners. The Wanderers Test, however, showed that Kohli has come a long way from 2014. The Bullring had turned into a snake-pit, and it was here that Kohli's confidence joined hands with his skill-set to create magic. India's decision at the toss initially baffled, and later astonished, as Kohli went on to play a couple of innings which he had no right of playing under such hostility. Those knocks might have only been worth 54 and 41, but the extent to which he reduced the luck factor through his control, it was incredible. He was so far ahead on the curve that he could come from behind and lap everyone else.
Pundits try to science their way into decoding Kohli's success. His head is on top of the ball. His feet are decisively forward and back. His balance is serene. All this is undeniably true, but it can't be taught. It's natural genius. The technique is infallible, with his bowled-percentage standing at a staggeringly low 8.5%. There's no one else, barring Steve Smith probably, who misses the flick shot as little as he does. He has it all figured out.
What might yet be the best part of Kohli's batting, of course, are its aesthetics. A Virat Kohli cover-drive is as pure as a moonlit vent in a marble temple. Thousands throng stadiums to be cleansed by it. In an era of dwindling audiences, it's the drawing power of players like Kohli that helps the game stay on rails.
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It has been unbelievable from the Indian captain in South Africa. The T20Is are still to be played, but nothing that happens in them can take anything away from what has been Kohli's tour. On the odd occasion, that urge to poke outside off stump has relapsed for him, and England must have watched it closely. But Kohli will cross that bridge when he gets there. And then he'll back himself like he always does.
© Cricbuzz
