Indian batter Virat Kohli celebrates after scoring a century during the 4th day of the fourth test cricket match between India and Australia. (Photo | PTI)
AHMEDABAD: Around 12.40 PM local time, Nathan Lyon, in the second ball of his 52nd over, pitched one on leg stump. Virat Kohli, like he has done all innings, like he has done all series really, flicked the ball calmly towards square before jogging the single.
Forget a monkey being off his shoulder. On commentary, Ravi Shastri had said a 600kg gorilla was off his shoulder. The understated way Kohli celebrated his 28th Test 100, and first since November 2019, also revealed where he's at at this point in time. He removed his helmet, took out the necklace, kissed the wedding ring before raising his bat to acknowledge the chants of a sparse weekend crowd.
Even if the Ahmedabad surface was an ideal canvas for Kohli to paint freely, his first few balls didn't inspire confidence. Off his first, he almost jabbed a catch to short-leg. His second saw him beaten. On the third, a ball before tea, he almost gave a catch to first slip. Just after tea, Todd Murphy beat him on the outside edge. On a true wicket with almost no variation in bounce and (very) slow turn, Kohli was finding it difficult to get bat on ball.
Apart from that initial hiccup, this was an innings forged in determination, discipline and concentration. One of the very few times Kohli wasn't in the zone over the two days was when he slightly lost his cool following an incident with KS Bharat who was at the non-striker's end. Kohli wanted the single after flicking the ball to square leg but Bharat didn't respond. He took a few steps but retreated safely before shouting 'call,' at Bharat. That 89-run of the fifth wicket partnership between Bharat and Kohli was important for two reasons. It made the game safe from an Indian perspective. It also showed Kohli's continued evolution as a red-ball batter.
He completely cut out the off-side from his line of sight. Wary of the outside edge as well as the leg-before, the former captain had already made adjustments. He had put one of his marquee shots — the cover-drive — in his back pocket. He had also decided the safest shot against all spinners would be rolling his wrists gradually before pushing the delivery towards square on the leg-side.
While this innings was missing Kohli's usual artistic expressions, it will figure highly in terms of the method he decided to employ. He ran 67 singles or twos in the region between square leg and mid-wicket to the spinners. He completely cut out the offside as a scoring option — the visitors contributed to this while sticking to a line that saw bowling to his pads with a 7-2 leg side field — till the time he reached the three-figure mark.
On Saturday, when he brought up his first Test 50 in more than a year, he went against the turn to hit a boundary once; off Todd Murphy, he unfurled a trademark drive that found the gap. In the next over, off Mitchell Starc, he opened the face of the blade to divert it past the keeper. Just before drinks on the final session on Saturday, he punished Lyon by glancing him fine behind square on the off side. After an iffy start, this was a solid foundation. That was also his last boundary in almost 150 balls and 60 runs.
In time, one might compare this century to the one Sachin Tendulkar brought up in Sydney against the same opposition and it might hold some water. But this innings was also borne of necessity. With India still in arrears and doubts over Shreyas Iyer's fitness, he had to grind it out on a pitch where quick runs were the hardest thing to do apart from taking wickets.
For the first half of Sunday, he turned to a shot that's been profitable for him; the dab to the leg-side for a single. Coming into the Test, out of the 111 runs he had scored, 79 had come via the leg side, with all of them coming against the three spinners. That same theme repeated itself. Out of the 186 he made, 122 came on the leg side (97 against spinners).
After the 100, though, he was a different batter. The cover-drive made its presence felt, attacking shots were dime-a-dozen and the flicks and glances on the leg-side had a stamp of impudence to it. A couple of shots will form part of the highlights package. One Cameron Green delivery, pitched wide outside off stump, was thumped through cover. Off the next ball, that again landed outside off, he moved across before finding the gap through mid-wicket and mid-on. This was the Kohli that had defined much of his earlier years; a Kohli special to bring up 150.
After dealing in singles, there had been a clear change of gears. A gentle push with a straight bat off a Lyon delivery had the ball racing past mid off to another boundary. Eighty in his first 100 runs had come via singles, two, threes or overthrows. The next 86 before being dismissed saw him make 40 in boundaries along with fewer dot balls.
With one wicket remaining, Kohli perished while looking for quick runs. At 4.32 PM, he fell to Todd Murphy when looking to slog sweep him over mid-wicket. For nearly five hours, he was a monk. For the four hours after, he had become the monk who had rediscovered his Ferrari.
