Simply superb, yes. But others must perform too
Cricket commentators have let loose a volley of fulsome praise for Virat Kohli after his stupendous performance against Australia in the T20 World Cup Cricket on Sunday. Cricketing great Sunil Manohar Gavaskar said Kohli was the world's best batsman in this format of the game; some claimed he was a legend in the making in the Sachin Tendulkar mould; others pronounced Kohli was already the ‘next Tendulkar’. The compliments have been as quick in coming as the runs that flowed from the Indian's bat at a time when it seemed that the men in blue had all but lost the game and were poised for elimination from the tournament before a home crowd.
Kohli deserves every bit of them, even the exaggerated praise. Had it not been for his swashbuckling 82 of 51 balls, the result would have been different. It's not just that he scored so magnificently; this has become a habit with him. It's that the performance came, once again, amid tremendous pressure (he had blasted 55 runs against Pakistan when the score for India was 23 for the loss of three wickets, and steered the team to a win). On Sunday, the Indian side had lost three wickets for 49 runs, with the top three batsmen in the queue failing as usual. So, here we have a player who has not only been consistent in his success but also that he has been clicking under pressure. It's this combination which marks him out as a superlative performer and a dependable player.
Kohli has the knack of taking over (the sign of a good leader) when his partner has hobbled. He showed his mettle during his partnership with a constrained Yuvraj Singh, not allowing his frustration over the creeping run rate to destroy either his game or focus. He reshaped his game accordingly and, when MS Dhoni came in to bat following the end of Yuvraj Singh's excruciating inning, let himself loose. At that stage, the Indians needed 67 runs in the last six overs — neither too difficult (given the reputation of the two players at the crease) nor very easy (given that the opponent was Australia). Mesmerised by Kohli's unbounded aggression, Dhoni was content to play a supporting role. In the end, he would, after all, be hailed as the captain of the winning side!
There are two more games to go before India can hope to lift the T20 trophy this year, and this is a good enough time for the Indian side to reflect on the failure of its three batsmen (all very capable and among the world's best) in the top line-up: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina. It is not clear if either of them is going to be dropped, though it would make sense to retain the team that beat Australia and not tinker with the composition at a stage of the tournament when the semi-finals have come into play. The three batsmen have to fire now and take the pressure off Kohli. They have done it before, and can demonstrate their might again. It’s dangerous for a side to bank too heavily on a single player.