The king returns to rule his turf

Dubai: There is a sensitive side to Virat Kohli that doesn’t always reveal itself. Sensitive not just when it comes to himself and those immediately around him, but also to other cricketers, other sportspersons.

Perhaps, Kohli saw a little bit of what he has had to endure over the years in what Babar Azam has been going through in recent times. The former Pakistan captain has gone from being a batter who could do no wrong not so long ago to one who can’t do anything right in the eyes of his countrymen, his every move on the field scrutinised, his every innings dissected threadbare.

Babar received extreme flak in the wake of a 90-ball 64 in his team’s 60-run loss to New Zealand in the Champions Trophy opener, castigated for his inability to score quickly when confronted with a target of 321. As Babar came out to open the innings against India on Sunday, Kohli sauntered up to the younger man, placed a sympathetic arm around his back and had a word or two or encouragement. Not ‘Have a good one,’ certainly, though.

Kohli is in that stage of his career where he doesn’t have to worry about imagery and perception. He has been there and done that but isn’t naive enough to believe that the volume of past work will insulate him from current failures. He isn’t the hardest hitter of the cricket ball but even at 36, he is still the fittest. And while he may no longer be the undisputed batting baron of Indian cricket, he continues to be the one who attracts the maximum eyeballs, whose pull is magnetic and beyond compare, and who knows what it takes to make an impact.

If the whole cricketing world is a stage, there is no greater showman than Virat Kohli. You simply can’t miss him on the field, tearing after balls like an enthusiastic teenager in his first competitive game, flinging himself on the turf as if a child fascinated by muddy puddles in the aftermath of a spell of rain, firing the ball at the wicketkeeper like he hates its sight and wants to get rid of it with ferocious intent.

When he is out there with the bat in hand, he cuts an arresting figure, all grace and poise except when he is poking at balls outside off – which he has done far too often in the recent past. And just when you start wondering if the fire has burned itself out, he rolls the clock back and produces something special. Like at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday night.

This wasn’t Kohli at his dominant best, but then again, he didn’t need to be. He just needed to be there when the job was done. When the target of 242 was reined in. When a place in the semifinal was practically guaranteed. When Pakistan were conquered, again. When India danced and celebrated and rejoiced and revelled.

And so there he was, unbeaten on 100, ODI hundred No. 51, when the six-wicket victory was attained, a victory to which he was integral. Most of the gorgeous strokeplay was left to Shubman Gill and then Shreyas Iyer, but Kohli produced a few ‘wow’ shots of his own. Such as the cracking off-drive off Haris Rauf that made him the fastest to 14,000 ODI runs, and the explosive cover-drive off Khushdil Shah that achieved the twin objectives of reaching three figures and helping the team breast the tape.

Pakistan are well accustomed to the Kohli game-face that comes with a statutory warning: ‘Beware, the boss is in the house.’ After all, he averages 106 against them in the 11 ODIs where he has ended up on the winning side. Maybe they will pass a motion to outlaw such returns as being too insensitive. But maybe then, they will also realise that lack of sensitivity has never been a Kohli USP.