When it comes to ODI cricket, Virat Kohli is in a league of his own
The former Indian captain scored his 47th One Day century to beat Pakistan in the Asia Cup Super 4 encounter.
Let’s engage in a thought experiment for a while. If you were to create the perfect ODI batter from scratch in a lab, what qualities would said player possess? Ability to hit sixes and boundaries, sure. A great understanding of field placements and match situations, of course. Stamina to run, toil, and sweat to convert ones into twos and take sneaky singles. Penchant to form partnerships and sometimes even happy to play second fiddle. A rock-solid defence and above all, consistency, consistency, and consistency.
Congratulations, you have just described Virat Kohli in the flesh!
Just over a year ago, Virat Kohli was apparently ‘finished’ - the centuries had dried up, the runs weren’t flowing as effortlessly, and it was taken for granted that his best days were behind him and India would be better off planning for the future without him in the mix.
Just 12 months and seven international centuries later, and Kohli looks to be as good as he has ever done in his career.
That’s the thing about the greats. Form, situations, team context, management can all be fickle and temporary, but the class remains. And Kohli’s class is beyond world class!
Pakistani bowlers need no reminders of this. They had their faces in the palm of their hands when he took them for a ride and did what he did at the MCG during the opening T20 World Cup encounter. And they once again had little answers for him as Kohli toyed and saw off and dealt with everything they threw at him.
Over the 50 years that it has been in existence, One Day cricket has definitely evolved as has the sport itself. Risk-taking, adventurous batting, unorthodox shot-making have all been pioneered by legends like AB De Villiers, Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag, Sanath Jayasuriya, Rohit Sharma, and Adam Gilchrist among others over the years.
The advent of powerplays have also allowed batters to go over the top and slog in their search for sixes and boundaries in this format. While this particular brand of cricket is definitely electric and entertaining to watch, it also carries the element of risk.
Unlike T20s, ODIs are prolonged affairs and batters do need to ensure some semblance of safety. If everyone went hard and went boom boom, then a batting side would be extremely prone to collapse.
This is why the romantics and classics always say that 1s and 2s and the ability to build long partnerships are the building blocks of a great One Day international innings.
This is also the mantra that Kohli lives and dies by and it is one that has brought him so much success over the years. Take his innings against Pakistan for example.
Against Pakistan, Kohli smacked nine fours and three sixes (contributing a total of 54 runs) - and most of them arrived after he crossed the half-century mark. The remaining 68 runs came from running hard 1s and 2s.
This safe, almost nonchalant approach is what forms the backbone of Kohli’s emphatic long-haul innings-building ability. He starts slow, measuring out each bowler, blocking deliveries and seeing how the ball and the pitch behaves on a particular day. He also has a high dot ball percentage of 67.15% until the 10th over.
Once he crosses the 10-20 run mark, he starts looking for singles with soft hands and finding gaps in the field to convert 1s into 2s. Of course, there’s always the occasional boundary here and there but it is always measured and under control.
By the time he gets to the half-century milestone and he reaches that landmark a lot in ODIs, Kohli has spent a considerable time at the crease and knows the ins and outs of almost every single bowler. This is the point where he starts switching gears and accelerating depending on the match situation.
The 1s and 2s are always there but there’s a greater emphasis on securing at least one boundary every over to up the ante.
After 30 overs, Kohli’s strike rate gradually keeps climbing with every interval. Between overs 31 and 35, he has a strike rate of 110.0. Between 36th and 40th over, he strikes at 119.5. His strike rate climbs to close to 140 between overs 41 and 45.
If he is still at the crease beyond the 45th over, it means hell for opposition bowlers as this is when Kohli truly cuts loose. Now striking at 180.9, he is always on the lookout for sixes and boundaries and can put away even some of the best balls with ease thanks to the confidence he’s built over time.
There’s a reason why this man is the fastest to reach 13,000 runs in One Day International cricket and there’s a reason why he has by far the best average (57.62) among anyone in the top 10 run-getters’ list in ODI cricket.
The 34-year-old is just two centuries shy of Sachin Tendulkar’s incredible record of 49 ODI centuries and if the performance against Pakistan is any suggestion, that record won’t stay safe for much longer.
Virat Kohli has championed One Day cricket like nobody else before him and it is a treat to watch him when he is in this kind of form.
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