Australia captain Steve Smith had earned the sobriquet – Best since Bradman after the Ashes. But Kohli’s batting in South Africa has somewhat overshadowed Smith’s monumental feat. (Source: AP)
Rewind to January 17, at the SuperSport Park, Centurion. After losing the second Test and conceding the series to South Africa, Virat Kohli had looked a frustrated figure. A reporter’s question about the India captain’s inconsistency in team selection fanned the flames. A mini argument broke out between the two, presenting an unusual scenario at a post-match press conference.
Cut to the same venue on February 17 (India time), and Kohli walked into the media room bathed in glory. India had just completed a 5-1 ODI hiding of the Proteas in the their lair and Kohli become the first batsman ever to score 500 runs (558 runs in six matches) in a bilateral 50-over series. After losing the second Test at Centurion, India bounced back to win the final match at Johannesburg and reduced the margin before rolling over the hosts in the one-dayers. What a difference a month makes.
Yesterday, Kohli was asked if it was the biggest win of his career. The skipper chose to be sarcastic. “You people can tell. One month back we were a very bad team. Now we have been asked these questions… We haven’t changed our mindset. We have just focused on our cricket. I don’t want to get lost in such thoughts; whether this is the biggest win or not. Our work is to play the game, strive hard; our work is to perform and try to win every match. Now whether this is the biggest win or not, whoever wants to analyse, write, will do so.
“For us as a team, our only motive is to give 120 per cent effort, strive hard in practice and keep our mindset good on every day of the tour and prepare so well that we can go and win. We have achieved that this series and that gives us most happiness. Creating these tags or headlines is not our work. We just wanted to play cricket which we have executed perfectly this series.”
After scoring 687 runs, including three hundreds, in The Ashes Down Under, Australia captain Steve Smith had earned the sobriquet – Best since Bradman. But Kohli’s batting in South Africa has somewhat overshadowed Smith’s monumental feat. The healthy rivalry between the two modern-day greats is excellent for the fans and uplifting for the game of cricket. Kohli was duly asked about his feeling to be the best batsman in the world now. But he refused to be drawn into a competition.
“Look I will be very honest with you. At this stage, I don’t feel like competing with anyone. It’s all about how I prepare before the game and what my work ethics are, and how I’m feeling on game day. And my only motivation is to get into that frame of mind. I’m not competing with anyone at all. If anything, I only look to help my team in any way I can.
“And during the course of that, I have mentioned that if you are thinking about the team, special things happen. But if you are thinking about being ahead of someone else then you will be found out very soon by this game and you are compromising on what the team needs as well.”
A sharp dig ensued: “As I said I don’t want any tags, I don’t want any headlines. I just go out there and do my job. It’s up to people to write what they write. I don’t want to be called anything. It’s my job, I’m supposed to do what I’m doing and I’m not doing anyone a favour.
“Everyone is doing a job… They have the freedom to write and say what they want. But it’s very important that I don’t change with that because my zone is very simple; it’s simply doing hard work and performing for the team.”
South Africa were depleted for the large parts of the ODI series. AB de Villiers missed the first three matches. Captain Faf du Plessis suffered a finger injury during the first game and was ruled out of the remainder of the series. A left wrist injury during the second ODI rendered Quinton de Kock unavailable as well. So did a weakened South Africa side dampen the feeling of success?
“Not one bit,” the skipper snapped, adding: “We had the same mindset when we played in Sri Lanka recently. We had the same mindset when we beat Australia. When we beat Sri Lanka 9-0, everyone said it’s a weak team. When we beat Australia, they still said Australia is not a good ODI side. Then we beat New Zealand, then we beat Sri Lanka again, and we have beaten South Africa here again.
“So the focus has always been on the team. It doesn’t matter who is playing, who is not playing. Whether the team is what it is supposed to be or it’s not, it’s not in our hands and it’s none of our concern. We want to take the best team as far as we can on the field, and have the best mindset to perform every given day that we represent our country.”
Even in the dead rubber on Friday, India made only one change, bringing on Shardul Thakur for Bhuvneshwar Kumar. There was a school of thought that Jasprit Bumrah, who played non-stop right from the first Test, could have been rested to manage his workload.
Kohli said dropping Bumrah was all but unthinkable. “There was potentially only one guy that we wanted to experiment with, which was Bhuvi, because his workload was immense. Bumrah is as similar to dropping a Shikhar Dhawan or a Rohit Sharma. Nobody will talk about those things. It’s very easy to drop the bowlers. Bhuvi’s workload was massive and the two wrist-spinners deserved to play all the games because of the way they have bowled, and they have been one factor that was been in the mind of the opposition the most.”
Even in triumph, Kohli spoke about figuring out the areas that “need strengthening” and not wanting to “live in a dreamland”. On their journey to the 2019 World Cup, the team management would like to have the No. 4 and No. 5 slots settled.
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