Virat, the 3 in 1 Genius

By R.S. Krishnaswamy

This guy would probably end up as the greatest batsman the cricketing world has ever produced. He can be classical, brutal and would deliver a magnificent cover drive and also powerful lofted shots in any form of cricket — one dayers, Twenty-20 and the legendary Test cricket.

The talk of the cricketing world as of today is Virat Kohli, the batsman. India is extremely lucky in having him as our leader in the cricketing world. The next year or two will be Kohli’s world of cricket.

I decided to do a write up about this genius in a slightly different fashion. Therefore this will be a description of his batting which I have been watching (on the TV) every time he is playing in the last five years.

1. He was totally devoid of any talent outside his off-stump getting out there again and again “by poking” outside the off-stump wildly. He corrected himself suddenly about two years ago (thanks to the guidance of Ravi Shastri)! By standing 1½ feet in front of the popping crease and letting go any ball that pitches away outside the off-stump. He won over a major error in his technique.
2. For anything over pitched outside the off-stump, he could hit with tremendous power between cover and extra cover. Now a days he is murderous on anything over-pitched on or outside the off-stump and hits the ball “beautifully bisecting any two fielders for a certain boundary.”
3. He has newly developed a bowler’s back drive to the right side of left hand bowler and to the left side of the right hand bowler and this would be another definite boundary.
4. He has a stroke off his toes and flicks between mid wicket and square leg for a definite boundary and if the ball is bowled short on his leg-stump he hits it with a horizontal bat with tremendous power again for a boundary.
5. He does not make any effort to hook the ball as he is not very sure of that particular stroke. This is a brief study of this finest batsman of today.

19th December 2006, would probably be the most tragic yet professionally important day for Virat. He was playing a Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka at Delhi and he was 40 not out at the end of a day’s play. He was poised for a big score and went back to his house in west Delhi. His beloved father passed away in the night of a heart attack!! The terrible news did not destroy the youngster (he was 18 years old then). He prayed and continued to play next day and made 90 before he got out and went home to his father’s cremation. This journey that began on a chilly December night soaked in tragedy made him fulfil most of his father’s dream of turning out to be one of the greatest batsman India and the world ever had.

Like most of Delhi’s great cricketers like Sehwag, Nehra, Ishant Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Shikar Dhavan etc., he hailed from a middle class family in Punjabi dominated area of west Delhi. Today this great cricketer has made himself one of the richest sports persons in the country making him earn more than $22 million (150 crores) that he says, “money is not my motivator but only playing for a winning Indian team is.”

He married Bengaluru’s own girl Anushka Sharma and now leads an extremely complete life, creating history in cricket every time he picks up the bat. He in a sense, is a prototype of the young millennial Indian with impetuosity and a passionate desire to continuously succeed.

Virat embodies an young Indian of ‘smart phones’ with an urge for upward mobility. Therefore even though this Punjabi youngster looks short tempered, he should be forgiven because he is out to give the best every moment.