Kohli is the top-end product of the modern game. At a time when Yo-Yo Tests have become more important than legacy, we should be willing to embrace the fact that we don’t know what is happening. We have not seen anything like this before. We cannot predict what will happen next. So why don’t we buckle in and see what Kohli — the batsman and the captain — has to offer, writes Aakash Aggarwal

July 13, 2002 — from my English Literature college classroom, where I first learnt that ‘romantic’ can mean something else apart from Shah Rukh Khan standing in Switzerland with his hands wide open and a silly smile on his face as the heroine runs excitedly towards him, I first heard about this character called Icarus. Belonging to Greek mythology, his story is one where he puts on wings made of feathers and wax and starts flying. He flies too close to the Sun and as you would expect, his wings melt and he has a great fall from the Sun to Earth and is crushed to death. This story can be seen as a lot of things: A warning against selfish ambition, perils of a foolhardy strategy, a cautionary tale that forbids you from going against conventional wisdom, a symbolic story about science and innovation and how man must not play God. However, surprising as it may sound for people who aren’t familiar with the story, Icarus is celebrated by the Romantics. Their focus is on not how his wings melt and how he dies a horrifying death, but on the fact that he over-reached, he tried and he almost succeeded. They celebrate his spirit and strong will to try. As a cricket-crazy nation, as true Romantics, we need to celebrate this phase of Indian cricket and marvel at the genius of Virat Kohli while keeping self-doubt at bay.

I would like to believe that while gully-cricket playing days are long over and I am hardly able to find the time to watch a full day of a Test match like I once used to, my love for consuming cricket-related opinions is still alive and kicking. So, I have read the accounts of English players talking about how Kohli is their primary target, how he is a better batsman than what they saw in the last India tour of England, and how he reminds them of Sachin Tendulkar. I have read expert comments about his form and fitness, his criticality to the Indian team’s totals, and his absence from the Asia Cup. I have read news articles about how India needs MS Dhoni’s ‘guiding’ hand in Kohli’s absence, how Hanuma Vihari is indebted to Kohli for giving him confidence in his Test debut, and what Kohli needs to learn about leadership. In fact, I have watched and read Kohli’s interviews where he stoically defends his choices, where he tries to move the conversation about the team from self-praise and Anushka Sharma, and where he asserts that India has certainly not been outplayed in the England Test series.

The harsh reality is that the 4-1 score line certainly doesn’t make you beam with confidence and is probably one of the key things that will haunt Kohli and the team on every overseas tour in the near future. If they lose again, the England tour will be the benchmark to showcase consistently bad results. If they win, people will say, well it still isn’t England. And then, of course, there is the most-loved schizophrenic comparisons that will continue to spring up: Virat Kohli, the batsman vs Virat Kohli, the captain. My humble suggestion would be to try, and for once, not do what we have always done and instead try something new: Soak in what is happening, understand the big transition that is currently under play for Indian cricket, and then take a close, hard look at Kohli again.

Let us first discuss what everyone seems to be discussing. The two statements that he has made in the recent past on which a lot of media ink has been spent.  At a press conference after the series, he was asked by a reporter whether he still believes Coach Ravi Shastri’s assertion that the current team is the “best in 15 years”. Kohli responded, “We have to believe that, why not? What do you think?” To which the reporter replied that he’s not sure and with a “that’s your opinion”, Kohli moved on. He did but the rest of India seems to have not. Remarks that suggest that he was arrogant, rude, angry, desperate and what not have played on TV news channels and splashed across headlines. I only want to brainstorm with you on what else could he have said to make it a reply that was approved by all. Should he have asked, “What time did you ask Ravi? Was it in the evening? Never believe what he says in the evening...” or should he have said, “Best in 15 years? Well I thought so before the series. I now think that the 11 chosen team members that represent India on the cricket ground are a bunch of worthless talentless nincompoops”? He simply said that you are the best only if you believe that you are. He meant, as many self-help books tell you, that you must ‘fake it till you make it’ in the real world. Even when the reporter said that he wasn’t sure that the 15-year claim was true, Kohli simply said that the reporter is entitled to his opinion and moved on to the next question.

Let’s discuss his second statement, where he said that he will not be participating in the Asia Cup. He said, “The workload has started to disagree with me a little bit.” People see this as someone choosing the series he wants to participate in, a self-admission that he is burning out, choosing to make money in cash-rich tournaments such as the IPL rather than representing the nation and what not. I would only want them to look at the numbers: Since the 2011 World Cup, Kohli has played more international matches than any other cricketer in the world. If we remove the IPL, he has still played a mind-boggling 287 games across the three formats. For a man who will clock his 30th year later this year, this is a lot. For any living person, this is too much. If he has decided to take a break to recharge the batteries, it would not be the craziest think to allow it. Think of Marcus Trescothick, Jonathan Trott, and most recently, AB de Villiers. If we have to choose a series over five years of international cricket, it would be a no-brainer.

Now to address the looming questions: Kohli is a great batsman, but is he a great captain? Is Kohli better than the team? Are we forcing Kohli to burn out before his time? My response to all those asking these questions is to request them to take a deep breath. I think an issue that may have needed attention would be if his performance had been significantly lower as a captain than as before. As we all know, even Sachin ‘God’ Tendulkar faced that challenge even if he doesn’t care to admit it. But that is not the case. In 71 tests, Kohli has amassed 23 tons and 19 half-tons at a rate of 53.92 runs per match. But as captain, he seems to be in a different zone. In the 40 tests that he has played as the captain, he has scored 4,049 runs at an average of 64.26, with 16 100s and nine 50s. In fact, in ODIs, in 211 games where he has scored 9,779 runs peppered with 35 tons at an average of 58.2, as captain in 52 games, he has scored 3,059 runs with 13 tons at a much higher average of 82.67. Whether you say that he was made captain when he was in the best form or argue that this form won’t last, one thing is for sure — he has taken on the captaincy challenge with élan and proven his critics wrong.

Doubts about his captaincy fade away when one stops putting him into the same mould of a previous captain. If we look at a previous generation, MAK Pataudi aka Tiger Pataudi first taught the Indian cricket team to roar; he was a leader of men. Sunil Gavaskar, the original master-blaster, laid the foundation of a fast-bowling Indian team probably for the first time. Then came Kapil Dev — the tearaway fast bowler or the swashbuckling batsman — his real identity was as every man’s Captain Paaji. He taught India how to snatch victory from the jaws of a loss. Mohammad Azharuddin, the stylish batsman, who relied heavily on Tendulkar, the batsman, and Anil Kumble, the bowler. Sourav Ganguly, the Prince of Kolkata, built the nucleus of a team that had the world’s strongest batting line-up and the desire to perform at the highest level. With a fair sprinkling of experience and youth, he built the team that ruled the hearts of an entire nation. As an emotional, stubborn, and shrewd captain, his tenure saw the likes of Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, and Yuvraj Singh spread their wings without the fear of being dropped after one bad performance.

And finally, Dhoni — the captain cool, the helicopter shot, the gambler, the finisher — rebuilt a team from the foundation that Ganguly had laid. Winning looked more possible and as one after another senior hung up their boots, the strength of a team — the sum total of 11 players — mattered for the first time. His game awareness and his ability to calculate the opponent’s next move in pressure situations made him stand out and he is still loved more than any other player. All of these great captains came into their own over a period of time. Their trademark styles, their preferred team combinations and personal performances became known over long years.  

Kohli is not these men. He is Virat Kohli. He is the player that Gavaskar described as the best under-22 player in the world. He is the batsman that Tendulkar named as the one who he expects will break his record. And he is the same person who was defined by his trademark on-field and off-field outbursts. His uncontrolled aggression, his fights with opposing teams, the abuses that he hurled on-camera seem to have become a thing of the past. His new-found success in Tests indicates that he is more patient. Yes, Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya flopped. Yes, playing an Ashwin while he was injured was questionable. Yes, saving Ravindra Jadeja for the last Test was probably too late. What if none of this happened — Yadav and Pandya succeeded. Ashwin didn’t get injured, and Jadeja played from the first match onwards? Unless Paul the Octopus is reading this, I can surely say that you and I will never know.

And isn’t that saying something? Not knowing? Getting to know as the match progresses. Biting your nails as a gamble pays off. Sitting on the edge of your seat as someone goes against conventional wisdom? That is what keeps you in the game. Kohli is the top-end product of the modern game. At a time when bodies are leaner and pay cheques fatter, where probably the maximum amount of cricket is being played, where

Yo-Yo Tests have become more important than legacy, we should be willing to embrace the fact that we don’t know what is happening. We have not seen anything like this before. We cannot predict what will happen next. So why don’t we buckle in and see what Kohli, the batsman and captain, has to offer?

Indian cricket team captaincy has always been a thankless job. In my cricket-watching tenure, I have seen Tendulkar giving it up, Ganguly blame his hair loss and greying hair on it, Kumble bowing out of it, and Dhoni being loved and hated with equal measure. It’s tough, but unless we learn to embrace failures and are open to wait long enough to see new captains come into their own, it will remain like the punishment meted out to King Sisyphus. Our cricket captain will be the Sisyphus rolling the boulder of our expectations up the hill with all his efforts, only for it to fall back, making him repeat the endless punishment.

The writer is a communications professional and a cricket lover