Still only 25 years old, it’s seems as though Virat Kohli has been a part of the Indian team for ages, so well has he established himself in the side. Kohli made his debut as an eager wide eyed 19-year old, who first shot to fame as the captain of the Under-19 World Cup winning Indian side. He was already well known for his flamboyance and talked about as being the “next big thing” in Indian cricket.
And he did everything he could to justify all the hype around him. As a one day international batsman, he has consistently been the best in the world in that format of the game, along with South Africa’s AB de Villiers. In fact, he has almost reached legendary status at such a short age in the ODI format – quickest and youngest to reach 5000 runs, 19 hundreds at a phenomenal average of 52 and an incredible strike rate of 89. No other one day batsman in the history of the game, not even the great Sachin Tendulkar has boasted of such amazing stats and at such a young age. And it’s not just about great stats – Kohli is one of the greatest match winners that the ODI format has known. Kohli is at his best in run chases and some of his performances are simply awe inspiring. Plus, he is already a World Cup winner.
But one thing that has always bothered Kohli is his inability to reproduce his ODI form in Test cricket. At Test cricket, his average is only average for a top order batsman – just 42 from 27 Tests with a highest score of just 119. While he has done sporadically well in the past, against Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, it has been nothing to write home about, nothing that may be considered as “world class”. Kohli has only been an average Test player, never set the world on fire as he does so often in one day cricket.
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And this has bothered Kohi, hurt his pride. That is why he came to England wanting to prove a point. He may be a millionaire several times over already, but to be really recognized as the best in the game, he has to prove himself in Test cricket – something Kohi is painfully aware of. But his performances so far in England have been so poor that ‘Virat the World Beater’ has been unrecognisable.
In three Tests, Kohli has scored 1 and 8 at Nottingham, 25 and 0 at Lord’s, and, 39 and 28 at Southampton. If his scores from the two practice games – 29 at Leicester and 36 at Derbyshire – are considered as well, Kohli is yet to make even a fifty on the England tour. By any top order Test batsman’s standards, not just somebody as hyped (and over paid) as Virat, these are really poor stats, enough to warrant a drop from the Test side. But Kohli’s stature is such that at such a young age, he has already achieved the status of a Dravid or a Laxman and is virtually irreplaceable.
But it is doubtful that England has found a chink in his armour as such, as there has been no real pattern in his dismissals. He has got out nicking outside the off stump, got bowled by an inswinger, got caught behind off the off spinner – Kohli has always got out in different fashions in this series. The only thing that has remained constant is the string of low scores. It’s hard to point out a reason for this, except to consider something that is almost unthinkable.
Is Virat Kohli overrated? Is he really as good as he is made out to be? Is he really a world class Test batsman? Before the England series, it would have been unthinkable to ask these questions, to doubt Kohli’s ability. But no longer. Cricket fans in India are increasingly beginning to question whether Kohi is really the great replacement to Sachin Tendulkar as he was made out to be. He has been not just a target of criticism, but of derisive jokes on the social media. On Twitter, there were many who tweeted about replacing Kohli with his girlfriend Anushka Sharma – not only is she prettier, but couldn’t possibly do worse against James Anderson and Co. either!
So Kohli has become a butt of jokes from being a much admired player. He can still salvage his reputation by doing well in the remaining two Tests and winning the series for India. But with a rejuvenated James Anderson, who is pretty much keyed up after passing unscathed through his hearing last Friday; it might just be case of a bridge too far.
