Disentangled once again, Kohli’s batting brings waves of happiness! Cricket fans rejoice!
Disentangled once again, Kohli’s batting brings waves of happiness! Cricket fans rejoice! What happened in Sharjah yesterday was miraculous. It was indeed an “I was there!” moment for the spectators, as Jatin Sapru rightly said. It was greenery after a drought for Virat Kohli and all his fans. He hadn’t been able to score a ton for what felt like ages. Yet, when Virat Kohli hit Fareed Ahmad over deep midwicket for his 71st international century, there was no aggression, no roaring, just a bright smile and eyes full of gratitude.
Just like that, Kohli put out of work everyone who had been keeping track of the days between No. 70 and this one. At 1020 days, a full-blown pandemic stopped the count. During this time, Kohli and many other people had to deal with lockdowns, quarantines, isolations, and bio-bubbles.
Free-spirited Kohli
When India’s 19th over came around, Kohli was as free-spirited and animated as you hadn’t seen him in a while. He carefully took off his helmet and gave his teammates a big smile as they cheered. However, he had a clear look of disbelief on his face, as if to say that this was the way he was least likely to be able to break the deadlock.
Rishabh Pant stood still and smiled the whole time, letting Kohli enjoy the moment. He then gave his former captain a big hug. Kohli didn’t give up after that. He looked up at the sky and then pulled off his gloves to kiss the ring on his chain that had his wife’s initials on it. By this time, the lens-holders had rushed to get in place at the right angles. They all were clicking away to catch that “perfect” moment.
Pure Contentment
Before the moment was over, Kohli looked around the field with a big smile, scanned his eyes to find the spots with the most fans, and raised his bat. For all the anger he can show on the field, with his nerve-jarring celebrations, yelps, angry growls, and send-offs, this was a pure moment of unadulterated contentment.
Once Kohli had calmed down, things went back to normal. No letting his guard down, and no ugly steps that showed he was done. He kept going. Early in his innings, he respected the good balls, even defending them or pushing them around until he got his groove. Now, he was in the “batting zone,” which is where players say they are so in the instant that they let their reflexes and muscle memory take over. It was like Kohli had gone back in time to his 2016 form.
Classic Kohli
This was the next level of fearless, pressure-free, relentless, and unhurried batting. First, Kohli opened up his wrists to hit wide yorkers behind point. Then, he moved quickly to get into positions to blow bowlers off their ranges. It’s a shot he almost never takes, but he seemed to push himself here, willing himself to make shots like the ones he’d been practicing. And when he wasn’t on his knees to sweep, he was slicing wide pitches behind square and sending low full balls deep over the extra-cover fence with his solid bottom-handed power.
Kohli was having a good time; he was fiddling around with the bowling. He was moving away from the bowlers a little bit as if to ask them to follow him. Then, when they didn’t, he’d bring his left foot back into place and play the most fantastic cover drive. So what if the sweeper cover was there? So what if the fielder had seen the shot coming and started running to the right as it was being hit? He was doomed. This was Kohli’s best moment as a king.
As Kohli’s innings continued, his typical aggression and swagger were back in full view. Kohli wasn’t just watching the ball and hitting it; he also liked the feeling of finding the “sweet spot” and watching the balls go off in different directions. For a change, no one was looking at the score, the number of runs or the number of overs left. The small crowd had cheered so loudly for a majestic hundred that they had lost their voices. At that time, everything else didn’t matter. Not India’s score and definitely not the fact that they left the Asia Cup so quickly.
The King is Back
The way he played was magical. It was a sign of how hard he was trying to hit the ball back then, while keeping a big smile on his face. He was stepping out to balls as if he could bat any way he wanted and hitting them to various corners as if he was just listening to the crowd.
And just when you thought you had seen everything, he hit one of the most beautiful no-look sixes you’d ever see. As soon as Fazalhaq Farooqi let go of the ball, he moved into place, knowing what was going to happen, and sent it flying over a deep square. The glove punch he gave Pant after that showed how much he liked it.
Kohli was having a good time. Finally, Kohli was freed from the weight of expectations. You couldn’t wipe the smile off his face, and liters of sweat were dripping off his shirt as he walked away with his bat raised, his gloves up, a victory sign, and a beautiful namaste.
The fun part of hitting was back in full force for Virat. He had been making miracles the whole tournament. Then, on Thursday, all of the good energy that had been bubbling up to the surface exploded like confetti on a big stage. Then, we saw on the big screen: “Welcome back, King.”
The King really was back!