Virat Kohli smashed another hundred in a chase against New Zealand on Sunday. Unfortunately, India ended up on the losing side.
This was one of the best chasing hundreds from Kohli, even though India couldn’t get the job done in the end. Two of his best hundreds in chasing have come in defeats, Centurion 2018 and Perth later that year. Even in this hundred, he was very calm and composed, as he always is during chases.
During his stay at the crease, New Zealand did a great job at keeping him out of the strike most of the time. At around the 45th over, Kohli had only faced around 100 deliveries from the 240-odd legal deliveries bowled during his stay at the crease. That was excellent strike management from New Zealand. However, Kohli remained very calm and composed while playing. It looked like he had a plan. It need not be dramatic, drastic, or fanatic.
This new avatar of Kohli is of an attacking player who takes risks, but not always. In this innings, he hit a six on the seventh ball he faced. In the last six innings, this was the third such instance that Kohli has hit a six in the first 20 balls. Before that, he only had one such instance in the two years.
Over his illustrious career, he has achieved much more than anyone would have imagined. Now, it looks like he has unshackled himself from all the pressure that comes from being a top player in India. He wants to do all that within the framework of trying to win the game, but being a little bit free.
Kohli was in his familiar zone when chasing a big total set up by New Zealand. At one end, wickets were falling, and no one was sticking long enough with him. It was a valiant effort from Kohli, and the crowd supported their superstar by chanting Kohli slogans. He did everything in that innings; he was running hard for ones and twos, he was hitting sixes and fours. He was also shepherding players like Nitish Reddy and Harshit Rana. He was even praising Rana’s efforts when the latter hit sixes.
All in all, he was in his best avatar in recent times. It felt like a Tendulkar-like inning when Sachin used to carry the team many times.
Coming back to the match, India won the toss and asked New Zealand to bat first. It proved to be a good decision as they took 2 wickets in quick succession. They took another wicket in the 12th over, but Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips steadied the innings and scored the runs quickly. New Zealand posted an imposing 337 runs on the board.
In the chase, New Zealand is constantly chipping away at wickets and didn’t let India breathe. Only Virat was able to counter the New Zealand bowlers. He had a couple of partnerships with Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana. When Harshit was playing with Virat, it looked like India would be able to chase down the target. But in the end, it wasn’t to be. India could only score 296 runs in 46 overs.
