For as long as November 5 will come, it’ll likely be remembered as the International Virat Kohli day. There are some who score runs. There are those who score lots of runs. But very few who score loads of them with an international appeal as Virat Kohli. They call him the King. None other than the great Sachin Tendulkar had once declared that his records would likely be broken by youngsters like Virat Kohli. The likes of Abraham Benjamin de Villiers can’t stop hailing him.
But as the right hander turns 35 and perhaps a step closer to breaking Maestro Tendulkar’s record of going past 49 ODI hundreds, there’s reason to believe that Virat Kohli is the last of the stars.
Surely, there’s little doubt that the next-gen Indian batters such as Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer can match or draw close to the great Kohli’s mind-boggling numbers, but there’s huge doubt whether there would be another that can impact the game in a manner Kohli is still doing. In an age where Artificial intelligence is resorted to for creating impact, Kohli’s natural self, in fact, just his name is enough to draw packed crowds.
It’s true for a Wankhede or Arun Jaitley stadium. It’s also true for the Queen’s Park oval, R. Premadasa and the MCG.
Though, it’s hard to say which version of Kohli is a bigger hero.
Kohli’s a chase master of the modern game. He’s recently completed 6,000 one day international runs whilst batting in India. He has already struck 70 half centuries in the game and ravaged spinners and pacers alike.
But just how does one better this batsman who is admired as much by his own compatriots as he is respected by his competitors?
To be successful in the sport is one thing, but to be hailed as a great by both- present stars and past greats is something that doesn’t happen that often.
Does it?
Only a few, the Lara’s and Sachin’s, Kallis’s and Gavaskar’s, the Sir Viv’s and Sir Sobers’ have matched that stature of superstardom. And yet Kohli stands his ground and continues to shine bright adding twinkle to the galaxy of cricket that truth be told, would be dim without him.
But while we are all too aware of the Delhi-born batter’s kingly success, it’s important to uphold the virtues that allowed him to create that mega success.
Which is why it’s rather important to distinguish between Virat Kohli, the successful end product from Virat Kohli, the athlete who despite turning 35, works out incessantly with the determination of a younger who can’t imagine life without diet and gym. Maybe this tieless desire to stay in shape, his penchant for fitness that quite simply raised the standard of fitness for the rest around him have made him what he is: a tiger that can hunt and hunt and hunt sans a care for the world.
For someone who arrived in Test cricket with a mega century against Australia in Australia in the 2011-12 season, Kohli’s great hunger for run making sees him stand on a mountain of runs a little over a decade later.
Despite representing India for no fewer than 400 international contests, including 111 Tests and 289 one dayers, Kohli, generational great, also has 115 T20I’s from which he’s already scored over 4,000 runs.
But it’s his uncontrollable love for runs that makes the bowlers’ hearts shudder with doubt; just how many have a batting average that’s north of 50 in the game’s shortest format?
Even at this stage, his strike rate is approaching 140. What is it, at times, you wonder, Kohli can’t do?
He’s been the captain and played the part well of an aggressor who pushed his teammates to attack opponents instead of getting on the back foot. His is a career that’s seen ups and downs and it must be asked whether any other cricketer, perhaps of the stature of Virat Kohli in another team would’ve been allowed to continue despite not scoring a three-figure mark for three long years?
But then, things pan out differently in cricket-obsessed and demigod-worshipping India, don’t they? His fans, quite frankly, deserve just s smush credit for rallying behind him during those lean years. But it’s rather empathic that even in the months where the King of batting went without a century, he managed to maintain an ODI batting average of 47 and 43 in the 2020 and 2021, respectively.
As a matter of fact, last year was anything but a productive year for the right hander; a batting average of 27 in ODI’s despite that 113 didn’t really make things too happening for Kohli. And yet, here he is again; a master of his own fate and a batsman like no other; Kohli has been in blazing form as seen in the games like New Zealand and Sri Lanka. The wristy work, the flowing drives, checkered by the very artistic cover drive and not to forget, the tempo of making runs as only he can have made Kohli one of the names to watch out for in the ongoing 2023 world cup campaign, currently held in India.
To most of us, the giant of the game is being himself- passionate, fierce and stoic. But there are landmarks to be reached and more eye popping milestones to reach, most noticeably the two more centuries in the format.
Which is why there’s hardly a surprise that even as Iyer and Rohit are doing their bit for India’s cause, it is King Kohli and what his magical bat can do that forms the most dominant question. May this be a tournament to savour and one peppered by the Virat Kohli magic.