Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav in the 3rd T20I against Australia in Hyderabad. (Twitter/BCCI)How does Virat Kohli decide it’s better to go a touch quiet, let the more attacking partner do more of the hitting even after he has started in an attacking vein as he has repeatedly done this series against Australia?
It’s “utilising my experience”, he would say at the end of India’s series win against Australia, and also add that he also looks for confirmation from the dugout from the captain Rohit Sharma and the coach Rahul Dravid.
“When Surya started hitting it like that, I kinda looked at the dug-out as well. Rohit and Rahul bhai both told me, ‘you can just keep batting on’ because Surya was striking it that well. It was just about building a partnership, so I used my experience a little bit, stayed back.”
Once Suryakumar fell, going for yet another six off the last ball of the 14th over, Kohli immediately changed gears. Off the second ball of the next over, from Pat Cummins, Kohli smashed a full ball over long-off (the same shot that Surya had tried but got out).
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“As soon as he went away, I tried to take on the first couple of balls, got a six off Pat Cummins and that set me off again,” Kohli said. “That’s why I’m batting at 3, I have to utilise my experience and give the team what the team wants.”
It’s his battle against the legspinner Adam Zampa that was most interesting to watch. Ever since the Asia Cup, Kohli has shown the impetus to take on the spinners a lot more and he would try it against Zampa in the last T20 but fall.
He had come down the track and tried to whip a full quick slider to spaces in the cow corner for a couple of runs but completely missed the ball and was bowled.
He had an interesting take on it. “Last game I was a bit disappointed that after hitting him for a four, I went for a double rather than hitting him for a six.”
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It’s also not a wise shot – going across-the-line to Zampa who time and again snares his victims when they do that. It’s far better to stay beside the line and go straight or covers and if it has to be on the leg side, then long-on is better option than going too square. Even Suryakumar Yadav had fallen in the last game, trying to go too square. Yadav vs Zampa was also an interesting battle but that’s for another day.
Let’s return to Kohli vs Zampa. On Sunday night, he didn’t make a mistake of going too much across. The first boundary set the tone when he went inside-out to smash a full delivery through covers.
Zampa has the ability to get the ball skid on and his googlies and sliders turn dangerous when the batsmen try to work it too square on the leg side. Kohli didn’t make that mistake in Hyderabad.
In the 7th over, he would give a tough return chance that Zampa clanged but it still reflected Kohli’s intent to play him straighter or to the off, a lot more.
Kohli’s best shot against Zampa came in the 9th over when he sashayed down the pitch to loft him over the long-on boundary. It wasn’t too dissimilar to the ball that had got him out in the last game but as he said, this time around, he wasn’t trying to play him across the line.
Instead, he went downtown.
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“I kind of made up my mind to go after him (Adam Zampa) today. He’s a quality bowler and he tries to control my scoring rate whenever we play and I knew that he was going to attack the stumps, so I was standing outside leg already … I got off to a good start then I had to take down Zampa because he’s an important bowler through the middle.”
Kohli, who has been a touch circumspect in the past in the T20s, has said that he is making a “conscious decision” to up the ante in the middle overs. “I’m making a conscious effort to strike those big ones through the middle overs so that it can help the team situation.”
In the penultimate over, he faced four balls from Josh Hazlewood but got only three runs. He first let a well-outside ball go through to the ‘keeper, thinking it might be a wide, but it inside the tramlines. Then he made the mistake of slogging a length ball outside off too much across the line and failed to connect. He would pick up a couple and a single to retain the strike.
“The game shouldn’t have gone on that long, we should have probably had 4 or 5 to chase in the final over. It was important to maintain my composure and get one boundary (on that first-ball six in the 20th over).” It was a slower one from Sams and Kohli tonked it over long-on.
“I’m happy with my contribution to the team, I took a break, went back to the nets. I am enjoying the process, I am enjoying working on my fitness all over again. I am excited to go to the gym,” he said.
He also mentioned how his mindset has changed at the crease.
“I know last game it wasn’t a big score but I felt I hit two impact boundaries; so I am happy with my contributions. I am not putting myself down if I am not able to get those big runs every time for my team. So just trying to stay in the space.”