Virat Kohli: Back to where it began

The last time that India toured the West Indies, back in 2011, stalwarts Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh missed the entire tour – comprising a T20, 5 ODIs and 3 Tests – while captain MS Dhoni, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan skipped the ODIs and Cheteshwar Pujara, recovering from knee trouble, was ruled out from the Tests.

That gave space to rookie batsmen Murali Vijay and Abhinav Mukund, while S Badrinath again sneaked into the Test team. And besides Mukund, there was only one other uncapped member of the Test party – Virat Kohli.

A right-hander of great calibre, it was the first occasion that a squad to represent India in the whites included Kohli. He benefited from Tendulkar and Pujara’s absence from the middle order and earned his Test cap.

Kohli, fresh from lifting the World Cup for India, had competed in 59 ODIs since 2008 before walking out on the park as a member of the Test eleven, his average a blooming 43.94 with 5 hundreds and 15 fifties already in his bag. While Kohli slowly glued his place in the ODI side, the Tests in the Caribbean came calling. He had hit 199 runs in the preceding ODIs, and his highest of 94 came in the final game at Sabina Park, falling in the teasing nineties for the second time then.

The Test debut after 3 years, and the three figures

Days later, he strode out on the same ground as a Test debutant. Batting at five – two spots below his habituated ODI position – Kohli was sent back by Fidel Edwards’ pace in both innings, dismissed caught behind for 4 and 15. Although India won by 63 runs, Kohli had a forgettable Test debut.

He played the remaining two Tests as well, but ended the series with 76 runs in five outings. So in India’s next Test campaign – in England later in the year – Kohli was dropped from the touring party, as seniors Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir and Yuvraj all returned. But India, travelling as the top-ranked Test team, were embarrassed 4-0 and lost their top status to England.

In the subsequent ODIs, India again had only a single hundred-getter – after the sturdy Rahul Dravid in the Tests. Back in coloured clothing, Kohli left England on slamming a 93-ball 107 in Cardiff before being dismissed hit wicket.

And he finally showed his Test skills to score double fifties against the touring West Indies at Mumbai in 2011. But one-day hundreds and regular half-centuries kept coming Kohli’s way.

Later in the year, a combination of the flop show of India’s batsmen in England and the young Kohli’s tested long-form batting earned him a place in the Test squad for India’s third overseas examination of 2011. India toured Australia on the back of a thrashing against England on their previous Test trip, so Kohli replaced Suresh Raina in the Indian middle-order that played in England. Again, they endured a horrible campaign to be humiliated in all four Tests.

Kohli’s place in the eleven was quizzed when his struggles fetched him merely 43 runs in his fist four attempts on the tour. His captain defended him in press conferences and retained him for the third Test, and Kohli repaid Dhoni’s faith. He first got 44 and a valiant 75 – though in vain – and was the last man out; and a bright spark burnt when the rising youngster lifted his game in the final Test in Adelaide and got one better: a maiden Test century – his first of more Down Under.

Kohli showed grit and solidity for the second time running and got India’s one and only ton of the tour. He notched up 116 in the first innings and ended up as India’s leading run-getter with 300, batting in Australian climes anew.

The rise of Kohli

And then came the tri-series also featuring Sri Lanka. Though he did not quite shine against the hosts, this time, the new visitors were targeted by India’s ODI number three, Kohli’s familiar batting position. Against the pace and perfection of Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara’s swing, he smacked 291 runs, comprising twin fifties and a special hammering in Hobart.

Kohli was still only growing at the international level and an irresponsible shot leading to his dismissal in Brisbane during a crucial run chase prompted former India batsman Sanjay Manjarekar to compare him with Dhoni – “this is the difference Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli”, he said on commentary – as a helpless Dhoni scratched his head sitting just outside the boundary line, sporting a waiter’s vest out of suspension due to slow over rate.

But Kohli came back stronger and stunned Sri Lanka with a hurricane hundred at the Bellerive Oval. India were demanded to chase 321 within 40 overs to survive in the competition and Kohli capitalised on the starts provided by Tendulkar and Sehwag, before combining with Gambhir and Raina to bash Sri Lanka’s bowling, particularly punishing the slinging Malinga, finishing undefeated on 133 off 86 deliveries.

Kohli plays a shot during his last tour against the Windies

His textbook cover drives were mesmerising; his bottom-hand heaves flew over the deep square leg boundary; his sprints between wickets bemusing the scurrying outfielders. Deservedly, he hit the winning runs with over two overs to spare for the fortieth.

He continued to make merry in 2012, with notable contributions in twice repairing India’s innings in the Asia Cup – prior to which he was made vice-captain – before belting arch-rivals Pakistan. In another run chase over 300 – precisely, 329 – Kohli went slambang at Pakistan’s bowlers. The whole of Dhaka sung to his tunes when he slapped, cut, pulled, punched, drove and hooked his way to 183. India achieved their highest successful run chase then as an emerging boy began his journey towards manhood.

Further, twin ODI hundreds in Sri Lanka, and a century each at home in three consecutive Test series showed he was a man for all formats. The second of those, against England in Nagpur, was a test of a new kind for the developing Kohli, as India trailed 2-1 and desperately attempted a win. But though they drew to lose the series, Kohli, who resurrected India’s first innings with Dhoni, showed patience and maturity for 103 off 295 balls.

So he left 2012 behind with glorious memories, particularly in one-day cricket, where he ended as the third-highest run-getter with 1,026 runs smashed from his blade at 68.40, accumulating five hundreds – the most – and three fifties. Those above him, notably Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara and his former teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan, batted twelve and thirteen times more to pocket just 158 and 93 more runs, respectively.

And the first full year into Test cricket was fittingly fruitful for the developing Delhi dasher, as in the same calendar year, Kohli gathered 689 runs while averaging barely below 50, thrice breaching hundred and fifty apiece – again the most by an Indian, leaving behind Pujara, though with six more opportunities to bat than him.

India next travelled to England for the Champions Trophy. They swept across all oppositions to lift the coveted cup for the first time since jointly doing so with Sri Lanka in 2002. Kohli cracked a fifty in the semi-final before repairing India’s punctured innings in the final against England, with a crucial 43 in a rain-truncated twenty-over match. And in the World T20 of 2014, he was chosen as the Man of the Series, a feat he repeated in 2016.

Kohli, the leader

Kohli’s consistency stabilised India’s middle order across the three formats, as he anchored them to multiple successful ODI run chases, besides building up an impressive image in the long form.

And so, the opportunity to lead for the first time was not far. In 2008, months before his ODI debut in Sri Lanka, he became only the second Indian captain then to lift the Under-19 World Cup; and when regular skipper Dhoni injured himself during a tri-series match in West Indies in 2013, the baton was passed to Kohli for three games, in one of which he got an 83-ball 102. He then took India to Zimbabwe and washed them aside 5-0.

Captaincy next came to Kohli when Dhoni pulled out of the Asia Cup of 2014. But a change in format occurred when he was asked to captain India in a Test match in Adelaide in late 2014 – a first after limited ODI captaincy experience.

Hit on the helmet first ball by a Mitchell Johnson bouncer, he avenged that with two hundreds in his debut Test as captain – 115 and 141 – and dared to attempt victory on the final day with a target of 364 in 98 overs. While India lost while chasing the challenging score, a change in Indian mindset emerged with the thought of pursuing something at close to four runs an over on the fifth day of a Test match.

The unmatched feat of former Australia skipper Greg Chappell was threatened, as had India won, Kohli would have equalled Chappell on getting two hundreds as well as a victory on Test captaincy debut. But this was not all. He fired on all cylinders with Ajinkya Rahane in Melbourne with a well-composed 169 and followed that up with 156 in Sydney, again as captain, as Dhoni retired midway into the series.

A 103 in Galle meant Kohli had four centuries in his first four Tests as captain, but eventually fell short of England’s Alastair Cook, who got five in five. India came from behind to win 2-1 in Sri Lanka, their first away Test series triumph since the West Indies tour on which Kohli made his Test debut. And under his leadership, an inspired India blanked South Africa 3-0 at home.

His aggression dominated the opponents’ mind and a win-at-all-costs-attitude was a welcome change for a team not used to verbal rants and audacious attempts for win. India’s new coach Anil Kumble once described him as the best under-22 cricketer in the world, one of the most cherished compliments from a senior and highly reverenced cricketer.

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He now lands in the Caribbean to play a Test series for the second time in the India jersey, but this time as captain. With 11 Test hundreds behind him. eight of those have come away from home which has not resulted in an India victory.

His fans, more than Kohli himself, are desperate for an away victory with three figures attached beside the Test captain’s name. They are praying for this one to be that occasion, when India plays four Tests in the West Indies.