Virat Kohli: India’s big-game hunter

It is said that right from his junior cricket days,the Delhi right-hander has never shied away from being the prima donna of every team hes represented. To his credit,hes always had the ability to pursue that image. Over the years,hes also proved repeatedly that he is the man for the big occasion. The show-man who wants nothing less than the centre-stage to show his wares and thrives on headlining every event hes a part of.

The whole package

When it comes to championing run-chases,Kohlis clearly the whole package. Hes got the canniness of a Michael Bevan,the ability to destroy an attack and an inherent aggression like an MS Dhoni,a surgeon-like precision to pick gaps for ones and twos like a Mike Hussey and the speed and judgement of a Jonty Rhodes between the wickets.

Moreover,his innings arent always built on a flurry of boundaries and an explosion of bat sending ball on a leather-hunt. Instead,the method to his madness is always circumstantial. But few amazing trends emerge if you look at the five centuries in particular that hes scored when India have overcome the 300-run milestone including the two against Australia in the ongoing series.

Technical prowess

In run-chases,Kohlis strike-rate of 95.72 is only fourth behind Virender Sehwag,Adam Gilchrist and Sanath Jayasuriya-three of the most fearsome batsmen ODI cricket has ever produced. While Kohli doesnt possess the brute force of any of the other three,he makes up for it with his technical prowess and his ability to manipulate the bowling and field placements.

He also does it by rotating the strike. In fact in those five centuries,only on four occasions overall did the opposition team manage to bowl more than three straight dot deliveries to Kohli. And his greatest strength in a run-chase has been the knack of never letting the required run-rate rise dramatically or to an extent where it affects him.

While the spell of dot deliveries have almost always led to an explosion of boundaries think Malinga in Hobart,the same bowler in Kolkata back in 2009 or Wahab Riaz during his 183 in Dhaka last year not once have they led to Kohli entering panic-mode.

The dry spells have never induced any untoward pressure-relieving hoicks or ungainly swats. Instead Kohli has dealt with them by taking calculated risks,moving slightly to his right to cover the line of the ball and flick it with his supple wrists through mid-wicket or making enough room to carve the full delivery inside-out through cover or extra-cover. And at times staying back in his crease and creating length and punching past point. Hes never been deterred from jumping out his crease even to the likes of Malinga and Johnson and lofting them over the straight-field.

The Audacious Mr Kohli

Kohlis knocks have also been accentuated by a series of nudges and tucks around the corner enabled by clever use of the crease. And hes been as much a scourge of the scoreboard operators as the opposition during the batting powerplays. From Hobart to Dhaka to Jaipur,its during these five overs that hes generally produced some of the more breathtaking shots from his repertoire and managed on each occasion to adjust the required rate in Indias favour.

Kohli has also shown the audacity to always target the leader of the opposition attack,be it Malinga or Saeed Ajmal or Johnson and McKay with most of his runs coming off them. Along the way hes left a lot of deflated captains scratching their head over whether winning the toss and fielding will ever be a safe option again till the time Kohlis walking out at No.3 in the opposition line-up.