Thriving when pressure rises

Is Virat Kohli the new Sachin Tendulkar?
That’s what former Pakistan skipper turned commentator Ramiz Raja attempted to suggest during the post-match presentation ceremony when Kohli came to receive the man of the match award for his century against Pakistan on Sunday.

“You are the new Tendulkar for your fans,” said Raja as Kohli approached him for a chat. The right-hander appeared a bit embarrassed but gathered his thoughts quickly to say: “It was a big compliment.”

There are many things that Kohli deals with quite nonchalantly. He is already India’s permanent Test captain and he will take over the mantle in the shorter version sooner rather than later; he will eyeball the fastest bowler in the world and pull the next ball to the fence; he doesn’t get worked up by crowd heckling and if anything he only thrives in that hostile atmosphere; he is also Indian fans’ new favourite and a perfect package for advertisers – brash, young and talented with looks to match; he romances a top Bollywood actress and makes no bones about it. But he is clearly uncomfortable wearing this Tendulkar millstone around his neck, at least for the moment.

Kohli the maverick is an absolute antithesis of Tendulkar the traditionalist. Where a young Tendulkar endeared himself to one and all by his humble nature and middle-class modesty, Kohli divides opinion by his nonconformist attitude.

Tendulkar almost appeared embarrassed by the adulation he received while Kohli soaks in the attention he gets. Two contrasting characters yes, but bound by the same hunger to accumulate runs.

It wasn’t until his 79th ODI, almost five years after his debut that Tendulkar brought up the first of his record 51 centuries in the 50-over format while Kohli is already the fastest to 22 tons from 151 matches.

His latest century against Pakistan once again proved that Kohli is a big-stage performer. Coming on the back of a lean patch in the shorter version after a prolific Test series against Australia, the 26-year-old produced a subdued 107, playing the sheet-anchor role to perfection.

While Kohli himself is capable of destroying any attack, he allowed Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina to don the aggressors’ role while holding one end up. His associations worth 129 and 110 runs with Dhawan and Raina respectively steered India to an impressive total of 300 despite Pakistan bowlers pulling back things in the last five overs.

Kohli has scored more fluent and attacking hundreds. He had to suppress his ego and work hard for this innings. Where his career strike-rate is just over 90, he managed to score only around 85 runs per 100 balls in this innings. He collected more than 50 per cent of his runs (56) in singles while only 32 runs came off all-four boundaries.

However, given the context and his own form in the immediate past, Sunday’s knock would have given him a lot of satisfaction not least because it came against Pakistan in a World Cup opener.

Kohli now has the distinction of being only the second centurion in Indo-Pak clashes in six World Cup matches. Saeed Anwar is the other batsman to score a hundred in South Africa in 2003. More importantly, it once again underlined Kohli’s influence on the Indian batting.       

"It’s probably one of the biggest (knocks) in my career so far," said Kohli on whom India had pinned a lot of hopes despite his indifferent form prior to the match. “Expectations are going to be there when you do well for your country. I just look to stand up to them because I hate to lose and I play passionately.

I like the expectations. Last couple of days have been too tough. Too many people in the hotel getting worked up. You just have to stay in your little space. My role in the team is to bat through, and the power-hitters can play around knowing that one end is secure. The way Shikhar and Suresh batted today was commendable,” he remarked, clearly delighted.  

They used to say India sleeps well when Tendulkar bats well. We might as well extend that saying to Kohli now.