In Virat We Trust

It might be a little too soon to proclaim Virat Kohli as the new King of One Day cricket but that’s the general direction of the wind. Unlike Sachin Tendulkar’s valiant 100^th century a few nights ago against Bangladesh, Kohli’s heroic 183 against Pakistan got us one of our best wins ever. Enjoying perhaps the best form of his still young international career, Kohli is very much in the zone.

In sports numbers usually have great value attached to them. True, that statistics can be twisted, joined, separated to get the desired result, much like the ODI and Test centuries being bought together to get Tendulkar’s 100^th 100, the numbers associated with Kohli are very remarkably. When compared Kohli has scored more runs than stalwarts such as Brain Lara, Ricky Ponting, and MS Dhoni after the same number of matches, 85 ODIs. This list also includes the swashbuckling Viv ‘King’ Richards, Michael Bevan, and the peerless Sachin Tendulkar. What’s more at this stage in his career when he has knocked up 11 centuries his closest competition comes from Brain Lara and Ricky Ponting who had 5 apiece after a similar number of matches.

There are many more stats that suggest that as of now Virat Kohli is, in fact, the best batsman in one-day cricket. Kohli’s 85-match strike rate of 86.31 is only bettered by MS Dhoni’s 96.26 and Richards’ 86.9. The striking thing about Kohli’s runs is that they have been consistent. In 2011 he was the highest-run scorer in ODIs and in 2010 he was he second highest. In addition to the run machine that he has become, his tenacity adds to his arsenal. You can’t think of any other present day cricketer who can go from having the worst day at office- showing the finger to the crowd- to scoring a test century in a series that was perhaps the worst in living memory. Kohli is the same on any extreme end.

Being promoted to vice captaincy doesn’t seem to have impacted his natural game, one where he offensively wears his emotions irrespective of their color on his sleeve. His 183 has sparked off a wildfire that is busy fueling an urban legend; he joins the list of Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni who slammed 183 and went on to lead India. While the fan and the Board were looking at someone like Gautam Gambhir as the next captain, the baton seems to have found a worthier person. Kohli seems to have been blessed with a potent combination of Ganguly’s fervor and Dhoni’s shrewdness. Who knows how long would this purple patch last but one thing’s certain you can count on Kohli to go from the lowest ebb to the highest high in a matter of days. 

This article was originally written for Buzz in Town
Image: ESPN-Cricinfo