It’s a promise. Yes. It’s a promise, I have made to myself. Any article on Kohli that I write from now on, I will get rid of the stats quickly. So here they are — Virat Kohli scored his 27th ODI hundred in the first ODI against England and played his part in what was a 3-wicket win for India. It was Kohli’s 15th century in successful chases for India in ODIs, the most by any batsman. He averages 90.90 in successful ODI chases. Out of 15, 14 of his centuries in successful chases have come in day-night matches. Well, that’s probably enough for now.

And now I won’t talk about his stats, for at least till when I don’t want to talk about his stats. Come on, he’s much more than that, and you know it.

Well then, it was India’s first game in 2017 and I was just as anxious as others to watch the “beginning of the new era” as they are saying. The Supreme Court verdict was out a few days back, and out along with it the BCCI chief and the other members. A selfless MS Dhoni in his ever-so-surprising or should I say a not-anymore-surprising manner, had stepped down from captaincy and the news was still hard to absorb for some, till probably the warm-up games were done with.

India vs England: Mountain of runs piled in the first ODI

Then began the first ODI and as I saw a mountain of runs being piled-up by England, I just like others thought India had a chase on their hands. 351 was the target, and India, have been there, done that in the past against Australia, and it’s very much possible, I thought.

Out came Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul. For a big run-chase, a team counts on its opening duo to give them a flying start. That didn’t happen though. Shikhar sliced it to third man and the hopes of seeing him answer critics, thereby repaying the faith of selectors was gone. He began his walk towards the dressing room. And while the England players were just getting into a huddle to celebrate, there was this man — Virat Kohli, shadow practicing a shot while entering the field.

Mind you Kohli was sitting in the dug out and was so eager to come out and bat that he did not even wait for the ad break to come on our TV channel. Shikhar hadn’t left, Kohli was already pumping-in on the field. And there could be a few reasons for it. One, he relishes chases, challenges, as we are all aware of. Second, because he knew as a captain, and as a No.3 he had to lead from the front. Third, because he knew whether its 300, 350 or even 400 to chase on that flat paradise pitch for batting, he could chase it, India could chase it.

Perhaps the spectators knew it too, that such occasions are tailor-made for Kohli. No wonder they became so noisy just after the fall of Shikhar’s wicket.

In comes new captain, Virat Kohli

What really blowed me away though, was his walk to the middle. There was hunger, there was desire, there was intent, there was an opportunist inside Kohli when he came out to bat at Pune. But you know, maybe these things are always there. Maybe I just observed it too closely. Maybe it was ‘this aspect’ of his game that I was supposed to observe today, because there’s always a new aspect or quality about his game that we observe when he comes out to bat.

And it was then that I was putting my money on Kohli to score a double-hundred and win it for India. The first six he hit, came right out of the middle bat and despite a small ground, that would be a six anywhere. And then of course he lost partners at the other end, until Kedar Jadhav came alongside and turned things India’s way again.

All this while, Kohli rotated strike, ran-hard for twos, knitted a half-century, let Jadhav’s bat do the talking and counter-attacked at times. At the 31.2 over mark, when Jadhav gave Kohli the strike, with him on 99, Kohli could not get a run for the next three balls from Woakes. Most batsmen would still look for a single and go for glory, but ‘Sir’ Kohli (They should now take that tag away from Jadeja and give it to the real Sir), came down the track and hit a six.

 You might have expected a roaring celebration but no, Kohli just asked for water from the dug-out, hugged Jadhav, and moved on. “The game’s not over yet” was probably what was going through his head.

Just another routine-century

He didn’t stop mesmerizing at 100, he went on. When in control (which is almost always), Kohli can make his art look simple. Another Woakes short-of-a-length slower delivery, was lofted by the genius over long-on, with utmost ease. The commentators were awestruck, but that’s customary for when he’s batting.

He got out for 122, getting a top edge off Stokes and returned back with despair (The amount of disappointment Kohli feels when he cannot finish off a game is unexplainable). The only shot of his innings that wasn’t good enough was the one on which he got out. And the despair was justified. He had given it away. But perhaps he would have been happier to see his team getting over the line with ease in the first India vs England ODI.

While Kohli couldn’t score a double-hundred as per my predictions, he certainly had another day at the office (Or should I call Night) — a routine-hundred was scored, India won the game, and a few thousand people were inspired, including his team-mates. Another few Kohli articles were written and none of the writers could describe him best.

Kohli chasing excellence, not records

Perhaps his stats might describe him best? Okay, I’ll squeeze in one more stat before I wrap it up. But before that, does anyone know why do these cricketers say they aren’t chasing numbers and then keep breaking records? Perhaps that’s the way to go. Chase excellence, success will eventually come your way, “3 Idiots” had taught us.

Anyway, here’s the Kohli eye-opening stat – He is the fourth on the list of most ODI hundreds by any batsman, with 27 hundreds. Sanath Jayasuriya has 28 hundreds, Ricky Ponting has 30 and Sachin Tendulkar has 49.

Going by Kohli standards, he needs two more ODIs to go past Jayasuriya and four more ODIs to go sit next to Tendulkar. Isn’t it?

Image Courtesy: AFP