IN PRAISE OF VIRAT

Kohli’s manipulation of the field is only possible because of the glorious palette at his disposal (not all great players have such breadth of options). And as is often the case with batsmen who have such liquid shot-making possibilities, there is a tendency to be too self-critical when perfection isn’t reached. Watch Kohli mistime a drive or misplace a ball and he will berate himself ferociously; again, this could be a symptom of the context rather than intrinsic to Kohli himself, but it speaks of a fierce will. Is this too excitable? Perhaps, but by and large he appears capable of immediately re-focussing. And when he does, he plays without fear (is this why the shot selection occasionally askew?). I’ve lost count of the times I’ve though ‘you just need to nudge twos and put the bad ball away’ only for him to launch it into the stands.

To grasp the jack-in-the-box Kohli’s sheer enthusiasm for the game, you only have to observe him sat in the dugout, up and down, touching colleagues, chatting, chirping, living and breathing every single ball. You’ll often find him alongside his coach, Anil Kumble, and a cynic might be tempted to surmise that he was a teacher’s pet. But that hypothesis doesn’t stack up: there is no question of him needing to creep in order to advance up some notional pecking order; alongside Gayle, Dilshan and skipper Vettori, he’s clearly at the top of the RCB food chain, frequently consulted by his skipper on bowling changes. You only need to see how he speaks to such veterans as Mohammad Kaif to realize he exudes seniority, an authority deriving from both charisma and on-field performance. And he takes responsibility, the hallmark of any leader.

In fact, with India having been utterly demolished in England this summer, it would make sense for Duncan Fletcher – if indeed he is able to make such a decision – to install Kohli in the Test team without further ado, and to make him vice-captain to Dhoni. This will not compensate for the lack of bowling penetration, the discovery of which remains India and Fletcher’s greatest immediate challenge, but it will ensure there is no apathy on the field. And after the cricket they played here, at times, that can only be a good thing.

But first things first: the CLT20 final is here (you may already know the outcome). Having been central to RCB’s back-to-back 200+ chases, definitely no second fiddle to the celebrated T20 batting imports Gayle and Dilshan, we wonder whether the young man born on Guy Fawkes’s Night has one more display of stroke-making fireworks left in him. If he carries his team home, then the livewire tattooed extrovert with the pumping fists and bulging eyes can be anointed as the new face of a modern, confident India.