Batting in Twenty20 cricket is supposed to be fun. You have the license to do almost everything without being judged. Reverse sweep a 140-kph delivery over the fence, for example. Shuffle your feet and kneel on the pitch outside off to dispatch the ball over long leg. Unorthodoxy escalates into absurdity as the boundaries of the game keep expanding into the realms of the unknown. But even the exhilaration of the surreal, which is in the very essence of 20-over cricket, can seldom beat the pleasure of watching a Virat Kohli classic. And there were three of them in the recently concluded series between India and England.
Standstill cover-drives without losing balance for a nanosecond. A flick of the wrists to help the ball on its way, soaring over deep square leg into the stands. You can almost hear Anthony Burgess exclaim “oh, it was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh” in Stanley Kubrick’s classic.
And it was a long time coming. The wait for the 71st international ton is yet to be over, but this was a delicious appetizer that promises an entrée of the most delectable order.
The Indian captain was the leading run-scorer in the five-match series with 231 runs, 59 ahead of the second-best, Jos Buttler. There was something very special about Kohli during the thrilling series between the two best T20 International sides. Something worth diving deep into the numbers world.
One of the best of Virat Kohli
There are no doubts about the class of Virat Kohli the batsman in any kind of cricket. You can create two more formats, and he will be great at them. That is what champions are like.
But just like every cricketer, he has enjoyed some phases more than others. This series will go right at the top of the mountain of runs and records of 32-year-old Kohli. It was for the first time since January 2016 that he scored two consecutive half-centuries in the same T20 series or tournament.
Only five times has Virat Kohli averaged over a hundred in the 37 T20I series (or tournaments) that he has featured in. This series was his third-best in terms of strike rate in these five, next to only the iconic Australia whitewash series in 2016/17 and the 2019 three-match home series against the West Indies.
Image Credit: BCCI
However, neither Australia in 2016/17 or West Indies in 2019 possessed bowling attacks this strong. Neither side pushed India to the extent this England team has. That is what makes these numbers look even more gigantic than they are.
The fact that Virat did try to take off early in the two games in which he got dismissed just leaves us thinking of the even greater numbers than he could have achieved.
The master architect
Kohli crossed the 50-run mark thrice in this series. On each occasion, he displayed a template to a great T20 innings and its progression.
It is well known across all cricketing lands that Kohli loves putting his hands on a challenge right from the word go. In this series, however, he constructed two big innings while starting as second fiddle, with Ishan Kishan in the second match and with Rohit Sharma in the fifth. This actually helped Kohli the finisher to fire on all cylinders.
During all his fifties, Kohli scored at a quicker rate as his innings progressed, setting up the final 15 to 20 deliveries for grand fireworks. This is represented In the graph below, dividing his innings into three parts and using runs per ball (rpb) as a metric.
Image Credit: BCCI
Kohli achieved his best progression rate in the series in the third T20, a match India lost but also a match that called out for the very best in India’s 32-year old captain.
Kohli scored at 0.93 runs a ball off the first 15 deliveries during the game, with India losing quick wickets. They were 86/5 when 33 remained in the innings. He then switched gears and what followed was one of the best finishes in T20 from a losing team.
Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, no one was spared!
It almost seemed like the ball wanted to kiss the sweet spot of Kohli’s bat – a sound that encompasses the romance of contemporary cricket more than any other.
The mouth-watering prospect of an opener
“I am going to open in the IPL to keep all options open,” said Virat Kohli ahead of the ODI series against England.
“I have batted at three, four, and now I need to understand my role as an opener which I have done successfully in the past in T20 cricket so that I provide an option to open up a slot for someone like Surya.”
Kohli’s statement shouldn’t come as a surprise. His 80 not out in the last T20 while opening the batting has only given reason to a renowned strategy.
Under Kohli, Royal Challengers Bangalore has tried, tested, and successfully (and, at times, unsuccessfully) shuffled their batting line-up. During the 2016 edition, when Chris Gayle was short of runs, Kohli had stepped up as opener. With 973 runs, a record aggregate for anyone in a single season in the IPL, Kohli played a key role in Bangalore’s ascent to the final.
India may be tempted to make this move in the World Cup later this year – and why not? After all, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli opening for India has a nice ring to it. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s allow our minds to wander to the magic we witnessed last week.
Fours and sixes are the ultimate rewards for batsmen and fans alike. Nothing delights us more. And Kohli knows how it all plays through.
The wrists and the footwork coming in to play. The bat moving as free as the air in the land, kissing the ball to produce the perfect sound. And the face of a perennially hungry beast of a run-machine. In those few seconds, we, 21st-century mortals, get to see what being invincible in cricket looks like.