CHENNAI: Rohit Sharma is out for another duck in the very first over. India are chasing 173 in Indore against Afghanistan and in comes Virat Kohli, taking guard in a T20I for the first time since the World Cup semifinal against England in November 2022. His first ball, last one in Fazalhaq Farooqi’s first over, is driven to mid-on for no run. Afghanistan bring on Mujeeb Ur Rahman, a negative match-up for Kohli. Now, this is the kind of situation where Kohli digs deep. He puts his foot down, gets to 20 off 20, and pile on after while the batter at the other keeps the momentum going. It has been his template in the shortest format for the longest time.
This Indian T20I team, however, is different. There are no anchors in this side. From Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top to Jitesh Sharma at No. 6, all of them are intent merchants. There is no set template. Unless the conditions or situations demand, they are expected to bat in a certain way. That is what they have done in the time since the 2022 T20 World Cup. Which is why, both Rohit and Kohli coming back into the set-up raised questions. Whether they will be able to do what the youngsters have done so far, playing a proactive, attacking brand of cricket?
Now, first things first, with Rohit and Kohli it has always been a matter of intent than skill. While Rohit has had back-to-back ducks, and his fourth in the last ten T20I innings, it was Kohli’s first chance to show what he can do.
What did Kohli do? The first ball he faced off Mujeeb, he cleared his foot to make room and cream the ball over extra-cover for a boundary. Three balls later, Kohli would do what he rarely does. He went down on his knee and slog swept Mujeeb over midwicket for another boundary. Two in one over. Against a spinner. In the powerplay. That is not the Kohli India has seen in T20Is. In the fourth over, Kohli would stand tall and launch Naveen-Ul-Haq downtown. The ball would bounce just inside the ropes, and one could see the disappointment in Kohli’s face.
He would follow it up with a pristine square drive off Mujeeb and another slog-sweep. Yes, you read that right, against Naveen to race to 29 from 15. On the 16th ball he faced, Kohli would charge at Naveen, trying to hit him over mid-off only to find the fielder. 29 from 16. Five fours, three dot balls and dismissed inside the powerplay.
To put into context how unlike-Kohli innings that was, his career strike rate in the powerplay is 118.04. In 2022, he struck at 107.97 in the first six overs. In 81 innings, he had been dismissed inside the powerplay only 18 times. On Sunday, he struck at 181.25 before getting out in the sixth over with the scoreboard reading 62/2.
Now, Indore is a batting paradise and the hosts would chase down the target in 15.4 overs with Jaiswal and Shivam Dube smashing fifties. This innings from Kohli isn’t a guarantee of anything. It could be an one-off innings as well. That said, in the games India have played so far, they have opted to chase twice, their bowling choices does not resemble a T20 World Cup side, and are nowhere closer to zeroing in on the selection headaches they have.
Amidst all this, Kohli has thrown his hat into the ring and should he continue to bat the way he did on Sunday, the selectors will only have more tough choices to make.
Brief scores: Afghanistan 172 all out in 20 ovs (Gulbadin 57; Arshdeep 3/32, Axar 2/17) lost to India 173/4 in 15.4 ovs (Jaiswal 68, Dube 63 n.o, Kohli 29).