Thrill of the chase

Centurion, February 17

A month has made a massive difference to the perception about the Indian team. On January 17, India lost the second Test to go down 0-2 in the three-match series against South Africa. A month on, perceptions about the team are completely different. India have beaten South Africa six times out of seven international games since then. Last night they sealed their triumph in the ODI series with an eight-wicket win that handed them the series with a 5-1 scoreline.

Virat Kohli bossed over South Africa in the run-chase, with his third century in six ODIs; he also became the first batsman ever to aggregate over 500 runs in a bilateral ODI series.

In his hour of triumph, Kohli didn’t gloat over the success; it seemed that the criticism his team suffered exactly a month ago still rankled. “One month back we were a very bad team, now we are being asked these questions,” he said when asked if this was the biggest ODI series win for him. “We haven’t changed our mindset. We have just focused on our cricket.”

Doesn’t matter

“I’m not going to live in a dreamland right now and accept all the praise and sit here and feel good about this... Because it doesn’t matter to me,” he added. “Honestly, it doesn’t. It didn’t matter when we were 2-0 down (in the Test series), it doesn’t matter when we’re 5-1 up. Because what matters is the respect in the change room. What matters is what the management thinks about me, what I think about the players and what the players think about me. That’s all that matters to me.”

Asked if he can now be termed the best batsman in the world, Kohli replied in the same vein: “I don’t want any tags. I don’t want any headlines. I just go out there and do my job, it is up to the people to write what they write, I don’t want to be called anything.”

“It’s my job, I am supposed to do what I am doing and I am not doing anyone a favour,” Kohli said. “So (I) just want to be in this zone of working as hard as I can and trying to do the best for the team.”

Chase master

He’s right that he’s doing his job as a batsman and captain, for which he’s paid a handsome professional fee. These are professional sportspersons, not soldiers fighting for the country, which is how their profession is often portrayed in the media.

His job is to get the runs, and he does it very well. He does it exceptionally well when his team is batting second in One-day cricket. His record compares favourably with the record of the two greatest ‘finishers’ in the game, Michael Bevan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Bevan’s team, Australia, won 75 ODIs batting second when he was in the playing XI; in those 75 ODIs, Bevan batted 45 times and remained unbeaten 25 times. This gives him an excellent batting average of 86.25 in Australia’s wins while chasing in ODIs.

Kohli’s numbers are more impressive — he’s batted in 73 out of 76 occasions India won ODIs batting second. He remained unbeaten 27 times, piling up 4501 runs, for an average of 97.84. Astonishingly, 19 of his 35 ODI tons have come in successful chases. 

Dhoni’s average is over 100 in India’s wins batting second, though he batted fewer times (69) than Kohli and remained unbeaten more times (44).