He Got Them Dancing in the Isles, Again…

“Oh, he has hit this one miles, great shot… oh it’s a biggie! Straight out of the top! The little man has hit the big fella for six! He’s half his size! What a player! What a wonderful player!”

When Virat Kohli punched Haris Rauf back over his head into the stands, Tony Greig’s immortal lines ran through my head. Rauf is a big lad, he’s got serious pace. Kohli is definitely not half his size, but the occasion and the stakes were definitely loaded in Rauf’s favour when Kohli decided to swivel his hips, hold his elbow high and meet the ball with a dead-straight bat.

I tried to keep calm but mentally, I was thrown back to 1998 when Sachin Tendulkar was braving a desert storm to script the best limited over knock that I have ever seen. Hang on, before you point to Kohli’s innumerable epic chases, just take into account that Tendulkar did that with Nayan Mongia at the other end.

Kohli has done this before. He’s battered Lasith Malinga, ticked off Kesrick Williams, and taken apart an entire Australia bowling unit, but the Melbourne carnage was different. It was different because Kohli is not the ‘King’ anymore – he’s lost his throne, been dragged through the social media humiliation mud, and had his place questioned in the side.

So finally, he decided to turn up. And thank God, he did!  

This Indian team needed a hero. Yes, you read that right! This team needs a hero. Gautam Gambhir has been extremely vocal about doing away with ‘hero worship’ but in the last two years, ‘Team India’ has either been Team Surya or Team Hardik. Most importantly, a few of us had lost interest in this Indian team. Countless rotations, changing of captains (and coaches!), and the constant handing breaks have left me exhausted. I can’t keep track of who’s playing which tournament, and neither can I comprehend the ‘new approach’ which gets abandoned against every top bowling attack.

I don’t even like this team because it serves up pure ’90s nostalgia – our best pacer down with multiple injuries, we don’t know our best eleven, a woefully inconsistent batting lineup, poor fielding, and a legend down in the dumps. This team has multiple cracks and it needed a hero to put a massive tarpaulin over all of them.

Does it mean we will win this World Cup? No. Does it solve our death-over bowling issues? Nope. Does it fix our star-studded inconsistent batting lineup? Definitely not. But this innings, once again, got me interested. It reminded me why I fell in love with the sport. This one’s for the ages, this one’s for the multiple viewing on Youtube, and this one’s for the ones who still care about sporting genius over data. This one wasn’t about capitalising on the matchups, it wasn’t about following any ‘new approach’ – he just smashed them down the ground, and ripped the heart out of the Pakistani bowling attack. In Melbourne, Kohli did it the old-fashioned way, just like a hero oozing with class and immense determination.

Just wish, he had a Tony Greig to get them dancing in the Isles at the G!

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