In the first ODI match against New Zealand on January 11, Virat Kohli seemed to be cruising towards the century before it was over. He got out to Kyle Jamieson on 93.
Kohli would have cleared that back of a length delivery over mid off for four or played it along the ground. It was a momentary lapse from Kohli that cost him his wicket. Before that, he was cruising, and the crowd at the packed Kotambi stadium in Baroda anticipated another century from the Indian stalwart.
Here is what he said about his innings after the match.
“If I am being brutally honest, the way I’m playing right now, I’m not thinking about milestones at all. If we were batting first, I probably would’ve gone harder. But in a chase, with a total on the board, I had to play the situation. I felt like hitting more boundaries, but experience kicks in. The only thing on my mind was getting the team into a position where we could win comfortably.”
On the day, Kohli played like he was owning the night. He displayed both art and science in his assault on the New Zealand bowlers. The resurgence of Kohli from 2025 onwards has been about clarity and focus. He was clear when to launch an attack and when to stop. Now, there is no place for guesswork.
In the first half of his 91-ball innings, we could clearly witness aggression to take India to the driving seat. The second half of his innings was more about the strike rotation. It looked like he continued from where he had left off in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
He was greeted with a loud reception by the Vadodara crowd. He announced his arrival with a straight driven four off Zak Foulkes. He followed with a boundary a couple of deliveries later. After that, there was no stopping him. Quickly, he even overtook his partner at the other end, Shubman Gill, the opener.
“The basic idea is I bat at number three. If the situation is tricky, I back myself to counterattack rather than just waiting around. Any ball can have your name on it, so there’s no point being passive. At the same time, you don’t play outrageous shots – you stick to your strengths. Today, when I walked in after Rohit got out, I felt that if I pushed hard in the first 20 balls, we could put the opposition on the back foot. That ended up making the difference,” Kohli explained his approach.
Even skipper Shubman was all praises for Kohli. “The way he’s striking the ball at the moment makes things look so easy, even on a surface like this, where it wasn’t easy to start, he made it look easy.”
Ever since he was out for two ducks against Australia in October, Kohli has been on another level. In the last five innings since then, he has made a total of 469 runs at an average of 155. Now the only question is how many runs he will make in this series and whether he will improve his century tally.
