From brash non-conformist youngster to a spiritually driven statesman, the legend of Kohli is a story of constant evolution. It’s a process that doesn’t cease, one that inspires awe in people who witness it firsthand. It has allowed him to go shoulder-to-shoulder with a younger generation that is rewriting the grammar of T20 batting, a process that helps him retain the superstardom even when an anti-superstar culture has been initiated in Indian cricket.
IPL has transcended to a level where it is close to being dubbed as a different sport to what is being played around the world. On Sunday, a staggering 986 runs were scored in 77.2 overs in two matches. The use of unabated power, force and physicality behind those runs could match the violence of any action movie.
At the other end of the spectrum is Kohli who uses his bat as a fine piece of equipment that shreds the morale of the bowling attacks bit by bit, over by over. Match by match.
Even as the world was recovering from Sunday’s gory run fest — that saw 265 and 229 being comfortably chased down — one must recall that it was Kohli who played the lead role in a comfortable 200-plus chase against Gujarat Titans an evening before. Gold standard in batting in Indian cricket for the last 15 years, his legacy has quietly influenced the renaissance of India’s contemporary T20 batting.
The funky ramp shots, the scoops and the audacious reverse sweeps/scoops are barely seen in T20 cricket now. RCB captain Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal—RCB’s engine room in the middle overs—have redefined themselves as T20 batters this year banking on conventional shot-making. They spent the entire evening here at the Kotla, hitting big shots down the ground.
“I remember a few years ago, there used to be a lot of these scoops and other funky shots. Now, it’s about how players can just check their drives. I would say people are focusing more on making sure their normal shots that they have a lot more power added to it in clearing the boundary,” RCB mentor Dinesh Karthik said on Sunday.
That Kohli is still challenging the next-gen of India’s T20 batting stars for the Orange Cap (highest run-scorer) is a testimony to his insatiable hunger for excellence. Ironically, this is the format that he first quit in international cricket two years ago when questions were raised on his ability to keep up with the times.
And now when the cricket world has embraced scores of 225 and beyond as IPL’s new normal, Kohli has stayed relevant and a perfect example for his peers around him.
RCB mentor Dinesh Karthik puts it down to the man’s stubbornness to trust his methods. “He goes back every year and assesses what he has done. He comes back with a very stubborn plan and he gets it done not on match days alone but the way he practices as well,” Karthik said.
“The youngsters in the team are constantly asking me what Virat bhaiya is doing differently,” Karthik mentioned, “Credit to him that he constantly rediscovers himself with every passing year and for him to keep up with the pace of this game where some of the newer players are batting at insane strike rates.”