Kohli 2.0: Decoding the batter's century No. 71 and the sheer joy it brings

“I’ve taken some time away, put things into perspective. It’s given me the realisation that this (cricket) isn’t the be all and end all of life, I need to enjoy the game. I can’t put myself under so much pressure of expectation that I’m not able to express myself. That is not why I started playing this game.”

You kind of got what Virat Kohli was trying to say the other night, but just how profound these sentiments were, became apparent only on Thursday (September 8).

First, the bare facts. Kohli’s 70th international hundred came on November 23, 2019, in the day-night Test against Bangladesh in Eden Gardens. At that time, no one, Kohli included, knew an extended drought was imminent.

Also read: Virat Kohli says he’s ‘shocked’ after scoring 71st international ton in Asia Cup

1,020-day century drought

Inexplicably, unbelievably, a staggering 1,020 days and nights passed by without another century off Kohli’s scything willow. He was finished, some of us whispered. Done. A victim of his lofty standards and his searing intensity.

That Kohli wore a ponderous, pensive, the world-is-against-me look with each successive non-hundred merely served to reinforce that line of thought. The free spirit of yore was replaced by a physical lookalike but a pale batting shadow of his imperious self. Who was this impostor? Where was the original? Would we get to see him again, if only once?

As the runs dried to a trickle, as he was reduced to a king without a kingdom from being the all-format emperor, Kohli’s batting reflected his state of mind – tired, overburdened, perhaps wracked by self-doubt. It’s happened to the best in all disciplines numerous times in the past. Why should Kohli be any different?

Also read: What on earth happened to Virat Kohli

So he decided to do what was in Kohli’s best interests. Step away from the game, temporary delink from cricket. He introspected, and he concluded that he was faking his intensity a little, that he was trying to be something he wasn’t. He went back to the basics – the most difficult thing to do, no matter how simple it sounds. He stopped thinking about success and failure, about runs and hundreds. He rediscovered his love for the sport, the reason he started playing it in the first place.

Kohli 2.0

Virat Kohli at the Asia Cup over the last fortnight was a throwback to 2019 and before – steely-eyed, totally focussed, in his own zone and bubble, driven and determined. He is also Kohli 2.0 – no longer looking for a fight, not feeling the necessity to slay an imaginary demon, secure in his self, ready with a smile, the snarls and the expletives put away in cold storage. Is it a surprise then that the runs are starting to flow again? Mellifluous runs, his bat beating a definitive tattoo on the unsuspecting cricket ball, an extension of his wonderful hands, a willing, cooperative ally in his endeavour to reclaim his domain.

Also read: 5 reasons why seven-time champion India failed to qualify for Asia Cup final

After easing himself back into competitive cricket following a six-week break with an admittedly scratchy 35 in the opener against Pakistan, Kohli shook off the rust with half-centuries against Hong Kong and Pakistan again. The runs were handy if not awe-inspiring, his movements decisive, his footwork impeccable, the hands doing the mind’s bidding. The signs were promising, though they hadn’t prepared anyone for the carnage he unleashed against Afghanistan on Thursday night.

It might be tempting to dismiss his maiden T20I hundred as having come only against Afghanistan, only in a dead rubber, but his unbeaten 122 was not so much about the milestone as the trappings that came with it. Afghanistan aren’t the worst bowling side – just the previous night, they had fought tooth and nail defending 130, and went down by just one wicket to Pakistan – though they were hamstrung by the fact that they were playing their second match in as many days. But this wasn’t about them. This wasn’t about the bowling. This wasn’t about the stage, about the fact that India were already out of the competition. This wasn’t about the result, the margin of victory, about Rohit Sharma resting or KL Rahul finding a semblance of form.

Also read: Mentally down, did not touch bat for a month, says Virat Kohli

This was about Kohli. About the joie de vivre his batting brought – to himself and to the larger group populating the Indian dressing-room. Seldom have so many in the Indian camp worn such broad grins as during the second half of Thursday’s match against the Afghans. Kohli on song can do that. His bat, his skills, the cadence of his music, the rhythm to his dancing, they all came together in one heady mix of subliminal grace. To those of us once accustomed to such symphonies with unerring regularity but starved of the classical for 1,020 days, September 8, 2022 was indeed an evening to savour.

Master front-runner

The odds of Kohli’s century drought ending in a T20I were so long that even the principal protagonist was surprised when it eventuated. As he whipped off his helmet, one could see the relief, disbelief and delight on his smile-bathed visage. ‘Really?’ he seemed to be asking himself. ‘In a T20 game?’ You could have knocked him over with a feather.

Kohli has scored more runs than anyone at this Asia Cup, but when it doesn’t amount to much from a team perspective, it is but a footnote. What embellishes this footnote is what lies ahead. The T20 World Cup in Australia is six weeks away, so what better news for India and the millions of fans of its cricket team than a fully switched-on, confident, relaxed Kohli? Captain or not, he is the engine room of the team, its heart and soul, the conductor of an orchestra in which the crowd is his ensemble. Now that he is back, as they say, bowlers beware.

Also read: India vs Pakistan Asia Cup match breaks viewership records

Just with how much-bated breath the cricket world was waiting for No. 71 has become apparent in the hours immediate to his hundred. Messages have flown thick and fast, from all parts of the globe, from cricketers past and present, celebrated and starry-eyed. You can sense in some quarters that there is a bit of fear, of being intimidated, of wondering what else he has in store. Kohli is a master front-runner like few others; with No. 71, he could just have struck the most telling psychological blow at the most opportune time.

Thank you for all the love and support throughout the Asia Cup campaign. We will get better and come back stronger. Untill next time ❤️🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/yASQ5SbsHl

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) September 9, 2022