India had hosted Australia for a four-Test series in February-March 2017. In the opening Test at Pune, Virat Kohli walked in to bat with the scorecard reading 44 for the loss of two. India were still trailing Australia’s total by more than 200 runs. Australia’s premier strike bowler Mitchell Starc was steaming in bowling in excess of 145 kmph.
But Kohli was in the form of his life. And the second ball he faced from Starc, he played an expansive drive against the angle leaving him. Starc’s pace proved too much for Kohli’s bat to make a good contact and the ball safely landed in Peter Handscomb’s hands at the first slip. Australia tasted first blood. In little more than an hour, India were bundled out for a paltry total of 105 and eventually suffered a humiliating 333 run defeat.
Of course, two dream spells from the left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe and a masterfully crafted third innings hundred from Kohli’s counterpart Steve Smith contributed heavily to Australia’s famous win. But Kohli’s almost arrogantly played shot so early into the innings against the opposition’s best bowler is what allowed the Australians to assume authority of the Test.
Virat Kohli at the Pune Test against Australia in February 2017. Credit: BCCI
A lot has changed in the 17 months since India’s defeat in Pune. Kohli is probably in the middle of an even better patch than he was going into that series. His performance with the bat in South Africa against perhaps the most complete fast-bowling attack of recent times strengthened his claim to be ranked among the very best in history.
But call it the self-indulgent nature of those who set the narratives or the massive colonial hangover this sport is still dealing with, one’s greatness isn’t quite deemed incontestable until he conquers England. And nobody needs another reminder of Kohli’s returns in the five Tests he played in England back in 2014.
It is under the weight of this context, that Kohli walked into the middle on Thursday at Edgbaston with the match situation erringly similar to the one in Pune. After a promising start, India lost two quick wickets. Before Kohli could buy a run for himself, a third followed. England captain Joe Root offered an extended spell to his strike bowler and Kohli’s hitherto nemesis-in-chief James Anderson. This must have been the last thing Kohli wanted to face first up in a series that is going to define his legacy in more ways than one.
Kohli was cautious. For a grand total of five balls. He had had enough. He had to get that first boundary out of the way. And in came the big drive off a perfectly released James Anderson outswinger.
It had happened before in Pune. For that half a moment, Kohli would have sensed a déjà vu. On a slightly less fortunate day, he’d have had to walk back without scoring. But this was not that day. This was Kohli’s day. The ball flying off his edge fell marginally short to a diving Jos Buttler at gully. Kohli was alive and breathing but Anderson was one up in the battle. In a jaw-dropping contest that ensued for over an hour from that point, Anderson drew Kohli’s edge three more times but to little luck – owing in no small part to Dawid Malan dropping a sitter at the second slip with Kohli still batting on 21 and looking anything but settled.
But a false stroke early into the innings meant Kohli was watching every ball from Anderson like a hawk. He was still getting beaten on both edges every now and then but he was no longer looking for a release shot. Anderson gave him absolutely nothing and he was more than happy to come second for as long as he was still running in the race.
At 36, Anderson is superhumanly fit but despite that, he was not going to bowl at Kohli forever. Kohli knew this. Kohli also knew the rest of the England bowling, as effective as it might have proved to account for his teammates – was nowhere near as good as Anderson to consistently trouble him. And he mercilessly pounced on it once he sensed they were running out of gas. Ben Stokes was successfully put off his length, Stuart Broad off his line, and Sam Curran with his gentle pace and fuller trajectory wasn’t the hardest to negotiate once the ball stopped moving like it did early on. Kohli allowed each one of them to come at him, give their best shot to remove him, and once they were exhausted of their reserves, he made his superiority known with an array of glorious looking strokes.
But often overawed by Kohli’s glorious strokeplay and indefatigable intent, one tends to overlook his extremely sharp match reading acumen. He may not be the most astute of captains, but few read the game better while batting. And this was once again on show, as he exactly knew the point when England would give up on dismissing him and start focusing on denying him the strike. What Root and his bowlers failed to anticipate was that stealing singles is the most cherished aspect of batting for Kohli. It was impossible even for the most disciplined of attacks to keep him from doing that and he made England pay dearly for these bizarre tactics.
When India lost their eighth wicket in Mohammed Shami, Kohli was still batting on 67 and India trailed England by over 100. He went on to add another 82 batting with Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav. He forced Root to spread the field out and became unafraid of getting out anymore. He was now manufacturing the boundary balls instead of just waiting for the bowlers to offer one. If the first half of his batting was all grit and resolve, the second one was characterised by an unmistakable sense of authority. He pulled and hooked with highest precision, drove on the up, flicked while charging down, and most importantly, ran like a bull. He was not even hesitant anymore to play lofted drives against spin.
Virat Kohli in action at Edgbaston. Credit: Action Images/Reuters/Andrew Boyers
England looked flat and clueless and unfortunately, Root cannot say it was not for the lack of trying. Because it indeed was. He’d find it hard to explain the rationale behind offering an extended spell to a conspicuously fatigued Stokes and a mostly innocuous Adil Rashid. But Kohli wouldn’t complain. He really could not have asked for more at the start of the series. Having scored more than half of his team’s runs, he has now put them firmly back in business.
But this is only the start. There is no reason to start fearing Kohli yet. The Test is still theirs to lose and their best bowler has looked unplayable for most parts. Kohli has now got the monkey off his back but he knows he’s yet to conquer Anderson and he won’t breathe easy until that happens. His weakness outside the off-stump is nowhere near as pronounced as it was in 2014 but as was evidenced during the match, he is still susceptible in the area early in his innings.
On another day, one of those edges may have carried to the slips and the series would’ve started on a completely opposite narrative. And India would have found themselves in a quagmire identical to the one in Pune last year.
But that’s just the nature of this sport. One man’s misfortune is another man’s capital. It’s what the man makes of the capital that defines his character. In the very same Pune Test, Smith was dropped thrice by Indian fielders before the score of 30 and he went on to score a hundred that the jury at ESPN Cricinfo ranked the finest of the year. Kohli has produced something comparable in this Test in terms of making the opportunities count.
Under the enormous weight of the buildup surrounding his own performances, this was a truly remarkable innings and must be viewed as one of the greatest by a visiting batsman in England in a very long time. In the process, Kohli has already outscored his aggregate runs from the 2014 tour and regardless of what he makes of the rest of the series, one thing is certain. He has afforded himself a much more comfortable mental space for the remainder of his stay in England.
Parth Pandya is an Ahmedabad-based freelance sports writer.