The decade of King Kohli

As we say goodbye to the second decade of this century, we can’t help but admire Virat Kohli. The Indian captain may not have been as unbelievably prolific in Test cricket as the unorthodox Australian genius Steve Smith, but he has scored runs across the world in all three formats, earning the right to be named the cricketer of the decade. Also, the decade saw Sachin Tendulkar’s emotional retirement from the game. And will the T10 take cricket finally to the Olympics?

Across the three formats, Indian captain Virat Kohli has put daylight between him and the rest in international cricket. Kohli is the only batsman to enjoy 50-plus averages across formats (54.97 in Tests, 59.84 in ODIs and 52.66 in T20Is). With 70 international centuries, this 31-year-old run-machine has a golden chance to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 international centuries. 69 of his 70 centuries have come in the last 10 years. Such has been his dominance that even Brian Lara, one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the game, urged youngsters to learn from Kohli if they want to be good batsmen. “I know you kids like the shorter formats of the game — the T10s and the T20s. But if you want to be proper cricketers, you need to watch Virat Kohli bat,” Lara said at a recent event in Dubai. “Virat is the best batsman in the world in all three formats because he has a solid foundation. And here, I see everyone hitting the ball in the air. If you do that, you’re giving the opposition an opportunity to get you out. Yes, Virat hits the ball in the air too. But he hits it when he is 99 per cent sure where the ball is going to go.” Lara is right because even in T20 cricket, Kohli never plays a false shot. One of the greatest match-winners in history, Kohli’s classical strokeplay in the shortest format of the game is like a breath of fresh air amid the slam-bang cricket. But the most impressive thing about Kohli is that he has made Test cricket his number one priority. Clearly the second best to the phenomenal Steve Smith in the longest format of the game, Kohli is still a brilliant Test batsman. His numbers (72,202 runs, 27 centuries in 84 Tests) speak for themselves. And it’s under his leadership that India have become the most dominant Test team in the past 12 months as the new-found fast bowling strength has surprised many a pundit. But more than anything else, it’s Kohli’s batting that has made such impact that experts have been tempted to draw comparisons with the iconic Tendulkar. With a list of admirers that includes Lara, Viv Richards, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Tendulkar himself, Kohli has earned the right to be named the cricketer of the decade. His failures the ICC 50-over knockout games hurt, but Kohli would want to put the record straight when the new decade starts.

Unlike Virat Kohli, Steve Smith’s unorthodox batting technique is not something a purist will advocate to budding players, but his monstrous run-scoring ability might force coaching manuals to be rewritten, former Australia cricketer Adam Gilchrist said. Twitchy at the crease, Smith extravagantly shuffles across his stumps with his bat’s backlift pointing towards gully — all a strict no when youngsters are learning the art of batting. “Years ago, Smith had a lean patch with the bat, and had to step away for a bit,” former wicketkeeper-batsman Gilchrist said. “He tried to change his technique, but later decided to stay true to his game. To stick to your guns when all the cricketing greats, coaches and textbooks say you are wrong — that takes real courage. And now everyone is watching him bat in amazement, and trying to learn from him. The textbooks on batting technique may need to be rewritten.” Despite the one-year ban for his role in the infamous ball-tampering scandal last year in South Africa, Smith made a stunning return with 687 runs at 137.40 with three centuries. Smith’s magnificent Ashes campaign generated wonder Down Under, with Australia media branding him a modern-day Don Bradman. Smith’s Test average — 62.84 — is second only to Bradman’s 99.94 in history. With 7164 runs in 72 Tests (26 centuries), Smith is already on way to becoming one of the greatest Test batsmen in history.

Sachin Tendulkar struggled to hold back the tears as he soaked up the unconditional veneration of an Indian crowd for the last time when the sun set on the master batsman’s glittering 24-year career in 2013. After his side completed the formalities of an easy victory over West Indies, Tendulkar collected a stump as a memento and slowly made his way through a mobile guard of honour formed by his team mates, head bowed and struggling to hide his emotions at the Wankhede in Mumbai. As television coverage broadcast images of a huge banner in the stands proclaiming “Legends Never Retire”, the 40-year-old Tendulkar shook hands with opposing players and staff before climbing the stairs leading to the dressing room. Tendulkar later returned with his wife Anjali, daughter Sara and son Arjun to make a moving and humble farewell speech at the presentation ceremony before completing a lap of honour on the shoulders of his team mates. He left the game after playing more Test matches (200), scoring the most Test (15,921) and one-day international (18,426) runs, and compiling more Test (51) and one-day (49) hundreds than any other player in cricket history.

Comparisons with Virat Kohli have been a stumbling block for many batsmen in world cricket but Pakistan’s Babar Azam has embraced the challenge wholeheartedly. The former Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur first mentioned Azam, the world’s top-ranked Twenty20 international batsman, in the same breath as Indian skipper Kohli early last year, based on the 25-year-old’s potential across formats. Azam’s international career is just over 100 matches old, but his prowess with the bat has already broken several records. He is the fastest batsman to reach 1,000 T20I runs, taking 26 innings to get there and dethroning Kohli in the process. He also reached 1,000 ODI runs in 21 innings, a record he shared with an elite group of players, including West Indies great Viv Richards and England power-hitter Kevin Pietersen, until his Pakistan teammate Fakhar Zaman broke it last year. Azam’s classy stroke-making has provided the platform for his recordbreaking run spree, and he often single-handedly drives Pakistan to competitive totals in sluggish conditions in the United Arab Emirates, the national team’s adopted home. The right-hander has also impressed with the bat in the away Test series against South Africa, but it was in Australia recently against a formidable bowling attack that the 25-year-old Pakistani proved his class. Despite his team’s poor display, Babar emerged as the lone bright spot with a century and 97 in the two Test series. This Kohli admirer is on the right track and could become the next batting superstar in world cricket.

While several countries have already played the pink-ball day-night Test matches in recent years, India were reluctant to join the party. But once former India captain Sourav Ganguly became the president of the BCCI, he was quick to convince Virat Kohli that India should not be reluctant to accept the change. Thus, the iconic Eden Gardens hosted India’s first-ever pinkball Test against Bangladesh recently. But doubts still remain in Kohli’s mind. “In my opinion, this should not become the only way Test cricket is played,” he said. “Because then you are losing out on that nervousness of the first session in the morning. You can bring excitement into Test cricket but you can’t purely make Test cricket based on just entertainment. Entertainment of Test cricket lies in the fact that a batsman is trying to survive a session and the bowler is trying to set a batsman out. If people don’t respond to that, too bad.”

Indian World Cup legend Yuvraj Singh echoed the sentiment of several stars as he believes T10 cricket, the game’s shortest format, could one day take the sport to the Olympics. The former left-handed batsman said even The Hundred, the new 100-ball format which the ECB will introduce next year, has the potential to take cricket to the most prestigious sporting event in the world. “The difference is how long the tournament is. If it is over in about two weeks then I think 100-ball will be perfect. If the tournament is, say, 10 days, then obviously, T10 should be perfect,” Yuvi observed. West Indies star Darren Sammy said that it was time to embrace the newest format of cricket and felt the abridged version could be the route to the Olympics. “It is a new venture in the game and it is one that I believe will really take off. It has potential to be big. And we always talk about cricket in the Olympics and I think 10 overs a side could be the window for cricket being in the Olympics,” he said. Unlike some other big names in the game, the former Australia star Shane Watson refused to speculate if the T10 format gives cricket a chance to become an Olympic sport. “The Olympics is a very sacred event that comes around every four years,” he said. “We are very fortunate that in cricket we have the World Cup. My personal opinion is that Olympics is really made for sports for which the Olympics is the ultimate stage. We also have the ultimate stage which is playing cricket for the country 12 months a year.”