CHENNAI: For a period of time on Tuesday afternoon, Kagiso Rabada and Virat Kohli elevated cricket to performance art. It was a sport in Excelsis and the theatre on the show was worth an annual subscription of the channel you were watching it on.
That the clouds had parted to allow the sun to gently peek through as two elite athletes went mano a mano only added to the almost cinematic experience that was unfolding. To watch it in real-time was to feel privileged, to be blessed by the air of greatness.
That Kohli had survived so long was in itself a minor victory for the Indian captain who was back as he had advertised. To physically be back was one thing. Would he be back metaphorically? That was the question when he walked in to bat with the visitors in trouble at 33/2.
The pitch was alright, but the hosts had course-corrected after two middling first-day displays with the ball. They were asking more questions and with a decent amount of cloud cover, they sensed an opening. But the 33-year-old was up to the task, refusing to engage with most deliveries pitched around the 4th and 5th stump line.
His first run came after 15 dots. A slight adjustment to his trigger movement also contributed to a more watchful Kohli. It was more than visible to the naked eye. His first 50 balls, according to Cricviz, saw him leave 66 per cent (33) of balls. It was, one of their data analysts remarked on Twitter, 'his highest figure in Test cricket with his second-highest (being) 46 per cent'. It wasn't quite Sachin Tendulkar at Sydney — Kohli's first two boundaries was two glorious cover drives — but it was comparable because of his initial patience and discipline.
This was the period when Rabada and he produced a riveting battle. This venue is no stranger to fire vs ice contests between two special cricketers. In 2011, Dale Steyn and Sachin Tendulkar produced an epic. While this wasn't an epic in that sense of the word, it will stand the test of time.
Kohli had already hooked Rabada — a touch miscontrolled — for six so there was an indication that he wasn't going to turn down all scoring opportunities. That's when the pacer, playing his 50th Test, concentrated on bowling that teasing back off a good length outside the off-stump.
As a contest, it peaked in the 49th over when Rabada could genuinely have had Kohli caught by the keeper or in the cordon multiple times. The first, a no-ball, saw him beaten by an out-swinger. The second induced the edge but fell short of the second slip. The third was a thicker edge but fell short of gully. The fourth almost kissed the edge. On air, the commentators were 'oohhhing' and 'aahing'. The fifth allowed Kohli a single and he jumped at the chance to go to the non-striker's end. That he was smiling at the end of that examination told you everything you needed to know. In all, there were 37 balls, 18 runs, four plays and misses and two edges. One could argue he needed that kind of luck to survive that spell.
Outside that spell, Kohli quietly composed his 28th Test 50. By his standards, it was slow. Of the 158 deliveries he had taken to reach the milestone, he had left 50 per cent (79), according to the same Cricviz analyst on Twitter.
All the time, those flowing cover drives were beginning to play a more prominent role in his innings construction. A bellwether shot for him, two drives on either side of the cover fielder for boundaries to take him from 61 to 69 would have fetched him millions in NFTs. You would have forgiven his fans for making an indecent sound or two while listening to the sound of wood on leather.
Just when it seemed like the 71st 100 was no more a mirage, Rabada came back to find the outside edge from a back of a good length area. To be fair to Kohli, he was looking for runs as he had run out of partners by then.
As far as the visitors are concerned, it could well be the score that makes a tangible difference.