Virat Kohli is a machine but machines have glitches too

Early risers enjoy the world. They feel the serenity surrounding the morning sunrise while also witnessing the vivification of light in the dark. The birds chirp their sarabande as the morning coffee silks down their throat, awakening every sleeping fibre in the bodies. Ahh… that feeling. So refreshing, so energising.

This is perhaps what a viewer feels when he or she watches Virat Kohli bat. The keyword in the previous sentence is ‘viewer’. It implies that even if you are someone who is not a fan of the Indian captain, you are bound to find your mind in a state of induced astonishment, wondering how someone can be so frighteningly good with the bat.

I am not a fan of the man, not in the poetic sense anyway. But I am an admirer. How can you not admire the articulate perfectness of the Mona Lisa? How can you not admire the dedication engraved in every stone used during the creation of the Taj Mahal? How can you not admire the mathematic precision of pyramids?

Actually, sod all that and just answer this: how can you not admire Virat Kohli? How?

Perfection is something all of us aspire to attain but is literally impossible to achieve. Whatever one does in life, it can always be bettered. Always. However, if there is anyone who could be labelled as the nearest thing to perfection, it is Virat Kohli.

How can anyone better the cover drives that the Indian captain plays? Or the leg glances? How can anyone better something that is already the best?

The other day, I was watching a classic concert with keen interest. I noticed that every musician in the hall played exactly the way the conductor wanted them to. Fast motion of the hands meant that the tempo had to rise and by exactly that amount, same for the slower rhythms.

You see, it might seem like the conductor was just waving the stick with hands, pretending to do something useful. This is something you infer if you don’t watch with attention. However, the true story is anything but.

On the outlook, people drool, like babies do while sleeping with their mouths open, over Kohli’s footwork or technique. But the truth is, it is not his technique or footwork—it is, as cliché as it may sound, his mind.

In his mind, he has already played the right shot even before the ball has been released. His mind is the conductor, his legs and arms are just the musicians.

Kohli exudes brilliance with each shot

In the first ODI against England, he hit many wonderful strokes, but *that* pull shot was the one that took away the breaths of many.

The ball was travelling just outside off, very close to Kohli’s right rib cage. Too close to pull, or play any kind of shot for that matter. What happened next was just like a climax from a Christopher Nolan movie; it left everyone stunned with mouths agape and eyes ready to pop out.

The Indian skipper just waved his bat like a magic wand and before one could fathom the shot he played, the ball landed beyond the boundary ropes for a six. When the replays were rolled in, people were further amazed at the ease with which he played a seemingly impossible shot.

Kohli had already played the shot in his mind. Even before the ball left the hand of the bowler, he knew exactly where it was going to be. In the processor of his mind, the algorithm was set. All that remained was the execution.

As the ball was just about to leave the hands of the bowler, Kohli took his position. He anticipated the height and caressed the ball for a six. Timeless. Effortless. Flabbergasting. The algorithm had executed without any error. Kohli, the machine, was at his finest.

This is just one of the many examples of his supernatural abilities when it comes to judging the trajectory of the ball even before it has been released.

These days, machines are taking over the world. Advances in Artificial Intelligence means that babies will have machine nannies to take care of them. And it will be good. Machine nannies won’t leave the stove burning, or the water taps running, or forget to change diapers, or… you get the point, don’t you?

However, every once in a while, even machine nannies might have temporary glitches; a slow execution maybe, or a runtime error, or perhaps some hardware failure. But, the algorithmic setup – the final version – embedded within machine nannies will always be flawless, for that’s how they will be enmeshed.

Is there a shot that Kohli cannot play?

And that’s how Kohli’s mind has been woven. In his mind, he always plays the right shot, but sometimes, his hands and legs fail to catch up – (“hardware failure”) – with the pace of that brilliant brain. And in that fraction of a second, the harmony of his downfall is played.

If the Delhi batsman was a conductor in a concert and the music went out of tune, it wouldn’t be his fault, but rather a musician failing to obey his commands – the commands of his mind, the perfect setup of an imperfect machine.