Kohli’s march to greatness continues as he topples the English challenge

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England v India: Specsavers 3rd Test - Day Five
Virat leading from the front

At the exospheric heights of success it is really lonely and so the margin for scrutiny is vacuous. For Indian captain Virat Kohli, the standards and the barometer are not the same anymore.

Even after conquering opponents and opposing fans in cauldrons like Australia and South Africa the doubts were still abound. England was one place that was not annexed as far as batting exploits of Virat were concerned.

The microscope was pressed so much that Kohli flirted with the idea of having a pre-series preparatory stint in County cricket with Surrey. An injury shelved that plan and it was probably going to be the same script as the last time in 2014. Obviously, in a characteristic bullish flourish, the captain did not read the script.

Conquering the final frontier

England v India: Specsavers 3rd Test - Day Three
Kohli gets his second ton of the series against England

Virat has already amassed 440 runs in three tests with two centuries, the highest by an Indian captain in a Test series in England. As India orchestrated a historic comeback in the series with a victory at Trent Bridge, Kohli defied the odds and self-doubts with an imperious century and an equally gritty 97.

Breaking the record held by Mohammad Azharuddin, 426 runs in the 3-Test series in 1990, Kohli set straight his poor record from 2014 which languished at an average of 13.40 over 10 innings with a top score of 39.

His 149 in the first Test at Edgbaston made Kohli only the second Indian captain to score a hundred in his first Test innings as captain in England after Mohammad Azharuddin (121) in 1990. The final barrier stands breached.

Kohli had already usurped the battling conditions of three of the Big 4, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Now in total, he averages over 50 runs per innings in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and England.

In 2014, he scored twin hundreds in his debut as Test captain at the Adelaide Oval with 115 in the first innings, the fourth Indian to score a hundred on Test captaincy debut. His 141 in the second innings is widely considered the best fourth innings’ batsmanship by an overseas player in Australia.

He went onto become the first batsman in Test cricket history to score three hundreds in his first three innings as Test captain. A staggering total of 692 runs in four Tests is still the highest by any Indian batsman in Australia.

Captain Magnificent

England v India: Specsavers 3rd Test - Day Four
Kohli's brilliance has catalyzed India's rise to the top of the Test rankings

In overseas Tests, he holds a host of records. Kohli became the first captain to notch up 200+ runs in a win on seven different occasions, toppling the Australian duo of Sir Don Bradman and Ricky Ponting, both at six.

The previous six occasions came on home soil save the one against West Indies in 2016. For India, only MS Dhoni has replicated the feat that too once, against Australia at Chennai. Virat has scored 200 or more runs as captain ten times in total, also an unmatched feat.

He is the first Indian captain to hit a double-century outside the Indian subcontinent. He is also the first Test captain to score centuries in each game of a three-match Test series and the first batsman to score six double hundreds as a captain. He has the most Test centuries for an Indian captain, an incredible 12. In 2017, he scored 11 centuries – the most by a captain in a calendar year.

All of the personal feats would be not as glorious if the team still failed to produce results. It is a team sport after all.

India reached the summit and claimed the Test Championship mace in October 2016. The ambition, as Kohli pronounced, was to stay at the top by clinching Test series away from the comforts of dusty and spinning tracks in the subcontinent.

England leads the current series 2-1 and India is vying to become the first team since Bradman's Australia to win a five-match series after being 2-0 down. The Don squad achieved the feat in 1937.

India has previously won Test series three times in England. The first being in 1971, then 2-0 in 1986 and 1-0 in 2007. The Test match victory at Nottingham was India’s seventh test win in England in sixty attempts.

Virat has also become India’s second most successful test captain ever with his 22nd test win in his 38th test match. MS Dhoni tops that list with 27 victories out of 60 tests.

India lost 2-1 in South Africa and need to win in both Australia (never done by an Indian team) and England to etch their and their captain’s name in the annals of Test cricket. The tour of South Africa earlier this year, current tour of England and a four-Test series in Australia in December can define Kohli’s legacy as India’s greatest Test captain.

A firmament of his own

Kohli
Kohli's heroics have garnered praise from current and former players alike

Unsurprisingly, the recent string of astounding performances has brought encomiums from all corners. Former Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara claimed he can become India's greatest ever batsman while former Pakistani spinner and current English spin consultant, Saqlain Mushtaq hailed him as India’s new Tendulkar.

The English commentators have been gushing in praise to the extent that there have been suggestions that English batsmen are being taught a lesson in dealing with swinging conditions, ‘the Virat masterclass’ if you will. From dynamic tyros like Sam Curran basking in his excellence to fabled icons likes Sunil Gavaskar consecrating him in the pantheon of cricketing greats. It has been an English summer to remember for Virat.

In 69 Tests, he has 5994 runs with 23 centuries and 18 half-centuries. In ODIs, he has 9779 runs with 35 centuries at an average of 58.20. In T20Is, he has hit 2102 runs in 62 matches with 18 fifties. In all, he has amassed 17875 runs, 58 centuries and 84 half-centuries in his 10-year career

On 5 August, he became the No.1 ranked Test batsman in the ICC Test rankings to go with his ODI top spot. He is the seventh Indian batsman and first since Sachin Tendulkar in 2011 to reach the top spot in Tests. He has the highest ever ratings as far as Indian batsmen go with 937 points in Tests. The man from Delhi has also achieved historic rating points (ICC rankings) by an Indian batsman in ODIs (911 points) and T20Is (897 points).

He is the first batsman ever to score double centuries in four consecutive series and has scored the most runs for an Indian cricketer in a three-match Test series – 610 runs against Sri Lanka (2017) after starting with a duck in the first innings. Records continue to galore!

The coming of age

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Kohli has metamorphosed into a fan's and peers' favourite

Virat is a metronome that plays one ball at a time and session by session. He was beaten 40 times by James Anderson in the Trent Bridge test but he never got bristled. A testament to the unflinching resolve he bears. He has an insatiable appetite for runs and even greater for victory. But what is even more inspirational is the way he has matured into a talisman, a commercial behemoth and a role model, all at the same time.

Virat had been frequently lampooned and caricatured as a spoiled brat and pesky recalcitrant who did know how to take criticism or handle defeats. But that Virat has grown up into a glorious ambassador of not just Indian team but World Cricket.

Personally, his demeanour after the Champions Trophy mauling against arch nemesis Pakistan typified his metamorphosis both as a sportsperson and as a man. His gracious and articulate interviews, especially after a defeat, are a far cry in an age where cynicism, vainglory and self-aggrandizement are accepted normals.

He is still capable of psychological warfare and he still relishes playful badinage or strategic gamesmanship. The fire of impassioned competitiveness still burns but it does not assume the form of a conflagration anymore. The cricket-educated gentry in England, the provokingly raucous Aussies or the hostile neighbours in Pakistan, admiration for Virat has transcended the boundaries of geography, overzealous jingoism and snide covetousness.

If I have to give a football analogy, then he is like a humanoid fusion of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.

Wayne Rooney is his teens was a human-shaped comet, a rampaging ball of fire with an ocean of potential, numerous curses and sheer exuberance of youth. But Rooney of early twenties overcame the hormones induced teenage petulance and arrogated a furnace to forge a steely competitive streak with all that talent. He became a restrained nuclear reactor than an uncontrollable atomic bomb. From being mercurial but inconsistent, he became a serial winner.

Virat has that fire in his belly too. He is a firebrand performer. If you diffuse the flame you will get only half the player, that too on his best days. He thrives on incense. He needs to be on the edge to set the stage alight.

The other part mimics Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese, over the years, has been a definition of human endeavour. The scrawny teenager has built himself into a physical colossus. With unparalleled dedication, he manufactured a machine-like professional out of himself that has realigned the expectations of a football athlete.

Virat has also gone through fitness transmorphism. We have read the exhaustive chronicles of Virat’s fitness and work ethic. It is no secret how he sets new standards as far as fitness, physical management and recovery routines go in the cricketing universe.

He is the gold standard and he is not even at his peak. He is not only the best at his craft, he is the hardest when it comes to graft. His relentless pursuit of physical supremacy and athleticism is similar to that of Cristiano Ronaldo, the biggest compliment one could give in that trait.

England v India: Specsavers 3rd Test - Day One
Virat continues to write his singular legacy

Legends are seldom blokes who settle for the mundane, the usual or the mediocre. They are relentless in pursuit of the seemingly unreachable and often the uncharted. Virat’s competitive ferocity is the fuel for the crucible that keeps churning these irrepressible accomplishments and panoply of records.

He has proven that, to borrow Kipling’s words, he can break himself down and rebuild with worn-out tools and dogged determination, the difference between the good and the great or maybe, the greatest.

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Edited by Debjyoti Samanta