Fringe figure to GOAT: How Eden Gardens gave Kohli his first and 49th ODI ton

The Eden Gardens has been the stage for many a memorable Indian triumph. The Hero Cup of 1993, when Anil Kumble took six for 12 to decimate West Indies in the title clash. That epic of 2001 against Australia, marked by Harbhajan Singh becoming the first Indian to take a Test hat-trick, and VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid scripting the mother of all partnerships in the mother of all comebacks. The 2005 Test against Pakistan, when Dravid scored a hundred in each innings. The Test match against South Africa in 2010 when Laxman (again) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni put on 200-plus for the sixth wicket to secure an innings win and extend India’s lease over the No. 1 ranking. And Rohit Sharma’s 264 against Sri Lanka in a One-Day International in November 2013, to date the highest individual score in a men’s ODI.

Touch of inevitable to Kohli’s record

It was also at the Eden that a certain 21-year-old named Virat Kohli made his first three-figure knock in international cricket, a blazing 107 against Sri Lanka in December 2009. At the time, Kohli was a fringe figure in an ODI set-up that included Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, among others. And look where Kohli is now!

In sport, pre-written scripts seldom hold good. Such is the beauty of sport that the only thing predictable is its unpredictability. And yet, there was a touch of the inevitable to Kohli’s record-equalling 49th ODI century at the Eden Gardens on Sunday night.

The Eden had planned an elaborate show to mark Kohli’s 35th birthday, also on Sunday. The Cricket Association of Bengal had ordered 70,000 Kohli masks to be distributed amongst the fans, though the plan was shelved a day before the game, some say at Kohli’s behest. Kohli had also sought to insulate himself from extraneous pressures by requesting those around him not to send him bouquets or cakes before the match – even the customary cake-cutting ceremony in the dressing-room was given the go-by, such was the intensity of the man’s commitment to the task at hand.

First things first

The task at hand was a World Cup league fixture against South Africa. India had already sealed their entry into the semi-finals, their first goal, by winning their first seven matches, but this team isn’t about small goals. It has started every match on a clean slate, so it was imperative for No. 7 to be translated to No. 8. That was Kohli’s focus, to turn in a performance worthy of his standing as the pre-eminent batsman of his generation. The rest of the world could crow in anticipation of his 49th hundred on his 35th birthday. For him, it was just another day in office, however implausible that might sound.

Even had he so wished, Kohli couldn’t have forgotten the occasion, because nearly 70,000 people reminded him of it every step of the way. When he strode out to face a few throwdowns around 1.00 pm, sections of the crowd starting singing ‘Happy birthday’. His good mate AB de Villiers was among the first to meet him at the ground, enveloping him in a warm embrace. As the teams then trooped out for the national anthem, roars of ‘Kohli, Kohli’ reverberated around the imposing stadium. There was no way anyone could have missed the energy, the electricity, the anticipation.

Extraordinary innings by an extraordinary batsman

One would have had to be other than human not to have been affected by the goings-on, and Kohli has often bared his all-too-human self, but he was remarkably composed throughout his three hours and a bit at the crease, after he had walked into a terrific platform set by Rohit Sharma, his successor as captain. Rohit’s blitzkrieg had left South Africa, No. 2 in the league standings, gasping for breath; it was an extraordinary innings by an extraordinary batsman. Numerically, it was only worth 40, but it came with such visceral intent that South Africa were rocked on their heels, from where they didn’t recover at all.

When Rohit was dismissed, the crowd was briefly stunned into silence. Then it woke up to the brutal assault and cheered the Indian captain, until it espied the No. 3, donning jersey No. 18, striding out to the middle. The pitch of the roar changed; it was deafening, it was cacophonous, it was goose-bumpy if you are so inclined.

Kohli seemed unaffected as he went about his business. Not with his usual fluency because, Rohit’s pyrotechnics notwithstanding, this wasn’t an easy surface to bat on. The ball was stopping on pitching, there was grip and turn for the spinners, there was little scope for the extravagant stroke-making that Rohit had pulled off with nonchalance. Kohli has been around long enough – 15 years and counting – at the international level to assess the conditions, to set his ego aside, to bat for the team.

So, he nudged and nurdled. He played to leg and saw the ball skit off his outside edge to off. He played one drive too many, intended to go through the covers but which dribbled off the inside edge to mid-on. He was angry with himself, but not so much that he was overcome by red mist. He paid Kagiso Rabada and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj the respect they deserved, but he also did Kohli things – rotate strike, bunt the ball into gaps, run like the wind, keep the board ticking over.

He should have been dismissed for 36, but Quinton de Kock put down a tough leg-side chance off Tabraiz Shamsi. Kohli didn’t need another invitation. He bore down on No. 49, hitherto the domain only of Tendulkar, inexorably, ticking into the 80s, moving into the 90s, then picking up a single to go from 99 to 100 for the 49th time in ODI cricket. In 277 innings to the little man’s 452. Not to read too much into those numbers, except for ornamental purposes. Tendulkar was his own batsman, Kohli is his own.

Eden rose as one when Kohli scampered through for run No. 100. This time, there was no ginormous leap in the air, no outlandish celebration. Just the arms held aloft as Ravindra Jadeja embraced him in appreciation and adoration. There was nary a hint of a smile on his face. Kohli seemed in a daze, trance-like, his vision unaffected, his focus undimmed. No. 49 is just a step in the journey, he seemed to say. With the World Cup entering its business end, that will be sweet music to Rohit’s ears.