Virat Kohli: The new-age cricketer

Virat exudes aggression and passion on the field

Adelaide 2015, it was the first ball after lunch. Virat Kohli was facing Mitchell Johnson, one of the world’s premier fast bowlers. Storming in with his trademark handlebar moustache and puffed up chests, he bowls one of those very wide balls - ones that go away from the right hander due to the slant.

At that moment in time, everything stops. It’s Kohli’s first ball as captain. The Aussies have been sledging him, the crowd abusing him and he hasn’t stopped himself from doing either.

The ball is delivered and Kohli plays the most majestic cover drive. The cover drive in itself paints a picture. Indeed a great way to begin the Kohli era.

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Unapologetically aggressive, fiercely competitive, Paul Newman-like swagger, a bit of class, a beard that speaks a lot by itself, heavily tattooed, a bit of Sehwag, a bit of Tendulkar, a bit of Azharuddin and what not – that’s Virat Kohli for you.

Virat Kohli is the polar opposite of a prototypical Indian cricketer. The new Indian captain has been a receptor to quite some flak – be it for punching a reporter or blowing kisses to his beau, he always seems to do something to maintain his supposed bad-boy image.

But then, Kohli also brings to the table something that no other Indian batsman of the past nor the present has been able to do consistently – produce game changing performances. Unlike most cricketers who have donned the Indian jersey, Kohli doesn’t settle for anything but a win, be it an ODI or a Test, not even a draw.

Arguably India’s best batsman today, he has an immense effect on the cricket-crazy country where even some of his greatest admirers aren’t sure if they actually ‘love’ him. But Kohli doesn’t need to be liked as long as he delivers. A far cry from the ‘Gentleman Cricketers’ from yesteryear, Kohli is someone who prefers his bat to do the talking and that’s what sets him out from the rest.

What sets him apart is his ability to chase huge scores with staggering ease. He scores a 100 every six innings, averaging over 60 when chasing. He has the highest conversion rate of a half-century to a century in the history of the game and is the joint fastest, alongside a certain Sir Issac Alexander Vivian Richards, to reach 5,000 runs.

The last decade or so has been quite eventful for Indian cricket and Virat Kohli’s batsmanship has been one of the high points for Indian Cricket. The poster boy of Indian Cricket has much more than just the bad boy image that he possesses and the stats very much favour the Delhiite.

Kohli is the fastest Indian to reach every 1000-run mark he has reached so far and was the second fastest to 20 centuries as well. Soon to be 27, Kohli has achieved more in less than a decade than what people aspire to in over two decades.

Undoubtedly, Kohli is highly gifted. It is by combining that natural talent with one-mindedness that he has reached the heights of today. His transformation from a brash, raw, flashy cricketer who couldn’t convert his starts well enough to a cricketer who possesses an intimidating aura, a cricketer who doesn’t wait for the bad balls but instead turns half-decent ones into long-hops is what has made him into one of the greatest players of the shorter formats of the game.

Taking on the Australians and mouthing them is something that not many cricketers fashion. But then, Kohli isn’t your everyday cricketer, is he? He just didn’t banter them, he even outplayed them with the bat when the Indians toured them late last year. Every time the Aussies lashed out at him, he did the same with equal fervour.

He ‘behaved more Aussie than Indian,’ remarked Dean Jones and how true was he. If there is one thing that Australian cricketers despise, it is counterparts playing like them and they hated Kohli. They always spoke to Kohli. When they didn’t speak to him, they spoke about him. Kohli seemed to enjoy every bit of the attention he was getting and 692 runs from four tests was a brilliant reply from the man from Delhi.

Ever since he entered the International arena comparisons with Sachin Tendulkar, considered by many the greatest cricketer of all time, seemed imminent. Kohli possesses the aura of Tendulkar and the fact that many teams chalk up plans just for Kohli is a testament to his meteoric rise.

At this stage in Kohli’s career, the statistics very much favour the younger man. Kohli has racked up 22 centuries in just 143 innings while the illustrious Mumbaikar took more than 200 to reach that milestone. To put into a simpler perspective, Kohli is scoring centuries at double the rate of what Sachin did in his career.

Also, Tendulkar’s inability to perform in the bigger matches against Kohli’s tremendous records in the matches that matter does say a thing or two. Between the series win in Sharjah in 1998 and the Commonwealth Bank tri-series victory in 2008, India played a total of 21 finals, of which they won one and Sachin Tendulkar averaged 26. Kohli on the other hand thrives under pressure. We all know what happened to Lasith Malinga in Hobart a few years back.

Kohli has scored 22 centuries in ODIs and around half of them have come while chasing. Kohli has become the lynchpin of a strong Indian One Day team and it is safe to say that alongside a certain AB De Villiers, Kohli is the part of the best chasers in ODI cricket.

There are cricketers who dominate the bowler from the word go, say Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, David Warner, to name a few. Then, there are batsmen who go along with the flow and score their run nonchalantly and quietly, say Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis etc. Then there are cricketers who can do both with effortless ease, in the process, making people all round the world gasp in admiration. It is definitely possible to say that Virat Kohli is one among them.

His aggressiveness on the field very much resembles Sourav Ganguly, a cricketer who Kohli must be able to relate to quite well. Like Ganguly in 2004, Kohli was written off after one poor series. Like Ganguly, again in 2004, none of his critics saw how he played on the tours preceding the one disastrous tour. Like Ganguly, he proved his critics wrong in a series against Australia.

Kohli’s aggressiveness and cockiness on the field is quite ‘un-Indian’ but it serves his purpose well. It serves his purpose well because as captain of the Test side, he needs to do everything in his limits to upset the rhythm of the opposition. It serves his purpose well because he doesn’t have a good enough bowling line-up to take 20 wickets overseas.

But then, he needs to know that all the mouthing that he does would bear no fruit if his side didn’t do collectively, something which the Indian side has done sparingly over the past couple of years.

Virat Kohli is indeed India’s next generation cricketer. He epitomises the growing Indian economy by not being deterred in his path by any outsider. His fashion statements have made their mark too. Virat Kohli talks the talk but unlike many other cricketers of the past, he backs it up with his performances.

The Aussies aren’t known for publicly showering praise on opposition. They did it to Tendulkar. They did it to Brian Lara. They did it to Ganguly. And a little while ago, they did it to Virat Kohli.

Virat Kohli: Captain. Outrageous talent. Audacious stroke-maker.

The future of Indian cricket, and quite possibly world cricket.