SK Elite: Virat Kohli's brave knock helps India beat Australia

A typical modern-day player, Virat Kohli plays his cricket aggressively, bares his emotions out loudly, yet shows a lot of maturity as any great sportsperson or a cricketer in the world would.

Virat Kohli shot into prominence as the Under-19 skipper who led India to victory in the Under-19 World Cup in 2008 held in Malaysia, becoming only the second Indian captain to lift the U-19 World Cup title.

Soon, he made his ODI debut for India in Sri Lanka in August 2008 as an opener as India’s regular openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag were nursing injuries. Although he failed to impress in his first outing, his confidence grew as the series went on and scored 159 runs in 5 innings.

After the regular openers were back from injury and with the middle-order quite strong, Kohli was dropped. But he was not disappointed as he went back to domestic cricket and plundered tons of runs to force a reckoning. In 2009, Kohli started to get more chances at No. 3 in the ODI team and he made the position his own with a string of consistent performances.

His first ODI century (107) came in December 2009 against Sri Lanka, when he along with Gautam Gambhir (150), helped India chase down 316 after being reduced to 23-2. He carried his good form into 2010 scoring another century against Bangladesh in the Tri-Nation series in Bangladesh.

Australia toured India for a short series (comprising of 2 Tests and 3 ODIs) in 2010 and with the first ODI washed out, the second one became an important one in the context of the series. The men from down under posted a big total of 289 batting first.

India, in reply, were rocked early. Debutant Shikhar Dhawan fell for a second-ball duck and Virat Kohli was out there to face the third ball of the innings. The first ball he faced was a solid defensive shot which came right from the middle of the bat and the intent was clear. India lost their second wicket in the 9th over and the score read 35-2. Yuvraj Singh joined Kohli in the middle and started to put India’s chase back on track.

Kohli and Yuvraj strung a vital 137-run partnership to put India's reply on track

Kohli brought up his fifty in the 23rd over with a typical wristy on-drive for a single to long-on and India’s score read 110-2. Slowly, but steadily, India’s reply began to gain confidence with another 180 runs required in 27 overs. Both Kohli and Yuvraj slowly shifted gears and started to attack a little more as they scored about 60 runs in the next 10 overs. Yuvraj got out in the 34th over with India still 118 runs adrift of the target and with Kohli suffering from cramps the target looked stiff.

Raina joined Kohli and took the pressure off taking calculated risks and found the fence on a regular basis. India needed 110 runs in the last 15 overs. Kohli, who was still struggling with cramps and had a runner. Kohli brought up his 3rd ODI century in the 42nd over with a crisp square drive to deep cover.

Despite suffering from cramps, Kohli, as usual, was fired up as he pumped his fist and roared in delight as he got to his personal landmark. Kohli wasn’t done yet; he scored his next 18 runs in 9 deliveries before finding a fielder at long-on.

He had hit it well but hit it straight down long on's throat. Kohli departed to a standing ovation as Raina patted him on his back and appreciated the match-winning innings. His 118 comprised of 11 boundaries and 1 six and was scored at a strike-rate of 97.52. Raina, along with Saurabh Tiwary, completed the chase with 7 balls to spare.

It was a brilliant knock from Kohli as he helped India recover from early jitters and put the team in control

It was a brilliant chase from India chasing a stiff target of 290 after they had gotten off to a disastrous start, losing Dhawan on the second ball and then Vijay. However, Kohli stood tall and changed the entire complexion of the game with a flawless century as he shared two crucial partnerships of 137 and 84 with Yuvraj and Raina respectively to help India overhaul the total. The win helped India gain a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series.

This 118 was Kohli’s 3rd ODI hundred and also the 3rd while chasing. He was criticised for not converting his starts before, but in Vizag, he took the responsibility of controlling the innings and almost saw India through. This knock displayed his appetite for runs, especially in chasing as this was just the beginning of the making of a Chase Master.