21 innings that made me fall in love with Virat Kohli
#1- 79* vs West Indies, Champions Trophy
2009, Johannesburg
When you see Virat Kohli now, you see a man of great batting
prowess. A cricketing legend whose talent seems endless and there is nothing he
can't do. And to summarize that hell of a career in 21 innings will be doing
injustice not only to him but also to this beautiful game we are so passionate
about. But here I shoot my shot and I hope I am not disappointed at the end of
this series. :)
2008. Kohli lifts the U19 world Cup. Becomes a star
overnight. Gets called for Indian side the same year.No chance of him playing
because the Indian side is way too strong and there's no way a 19 yo fits in
the picture. We are talking of an Indian side that had 6 sealed batting
positions. I strongly believe that a key factor to Kohli's success is his
awfully amazing luck in his earlier days. Sehwag gets injured, Kohli plays.
Gets good starts, doesn't convert it. Gets dropped.
This defines Kohli's early days. Getting good starts and not
being able to convert them. Then comes the emerging players tournament in
Australia in 2009. Kohli opened for India and had an amazing tournament
finishing as the leading run scorer with 398 runs from 7 matches at an average
of 66.33 This resulted in Kohli being the obvious call for replacement when
Yuvraj singh got injured for the champions Trophy squad to South Africa.
First match. India plays Pakistan. Loses badly. Kohli scores
a mere 16 and gets out playing a horrendous shot. Nightmarish. The second match
against Australia gets called off due to rain. The final group match that India
had to play was against West Indies. This match had no significance as India
were already out of the tournament. Batting first West Indies got out for only
129, courtesy Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra. Fun fact: this match also marks
Dhoni's first ever ODI wicket (Travis Dowlin). Nothing about this match may
seem special to you. But it is one of my earliest and fondest memories of Virat
Kohli.
Chasing 130, India were at 12-2. In walks Virat Kohli at
number 4 to replace Rahul Dravid at the crease. India needed 118 runs. What
follows is absolutely magnificent batting display from Kohli who was playing
just his 6th one day international. He hit the ball all around the ground. His
cover drive, not as beautiful as it is today, was still a delight to watch.
Looking at the highlights now, you can easily see the immaturity in his batting
compared to what it is now. He was hitting the ball hard, very unlike the
present Kohli. But what was same even then was the hunger for runs. He
absolutely dominated the run chase with a 92 run partnership with Dinesh Kartik
which set the tone for India to win the match, also earning Kohli his first
ever Man of The Match award.
Nothing about the match may seem special to you. But what
was special was Virat Kohli announcing his arrival to world cricket and he was
here to stay.
This is one of my earliest and fondest memories of Virat.
When I write this now 11 years later, the emotions come flooding back. As somebody who followed Kohli's career since day 1, it meant a lot to me. To
finally see Kohli convert a good start into a big total and be there till the
end, which he does way too often now, effortlessly.
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