Virat Kohli runs hard again, but India run out of steam

Scorecard: India vs West Indies

Ironically, it was his itch to run that nearly derailed him right at the start. There was a crazy kind of intensity when he came in to bat. Back in Kolkata, after an aura-building knock against Pakistan, he spoke about his heart beat in a chat with the broadcasters as part of an after-game show. How he felt his heart beat and how happy he was that it was under control, and because of that he knew it could be his night. Last night, he probably wouldn’t have heard his heart beat but pound hard. That’s how wound up he seemed. The third ball he faced was an absolute peach of a slower one from Dwayne Bravo. It dipped hypnotically late and Kohli was caught in a trance. He missed the swipe, the ball somehow missed the stumps, and Kohli just left the crease and ran. It’s isn’t something that Dhoni would have done, for example.

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Dinesh Ramdin’s underarm missed and even more surprisingly, an alert Bravo’s flick too shaved past the leg stump. A batsman so aware of his game, who works the angles so expertly, should have realised if he has missed the swipe, and he didn’t hear the sound of timber, it could have only gone behind the stumps. But he set off on a run to nowhere – that was the kind of manic mood he was in. He did it again next ball, deciding he could take on the arm from deepish backward square-leg fielder to come back for the second. A run that Dhoni would have only perhaps done in the end overs but as we have said before, Kohli’s run is letting go of all controls, and through that perhaps finding a way to calm down. Those twin dashes had that effect. It’s also a kickstarter for a busy batsman like him.

Feet moving, head still

After that he was in zone. Realising West Indies were targeting him outside off and his way of standing still in his stance could actually be counterproductive, he began to take decisive steps. First he began moving towards the off stump, ending up taking a stance with his bat pressed outside off almost. Andre Russell couldn’t adapt and bled runs. Soon afterwards, when a slew of slower ones started to come down from the seamers, he began to move down the track.

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It was a night where his feet kept moving, either down the track for twos or a walk to the width of the crease or a shimmy down the pitch. Usually, when batsmen do this, their heads rarely remain still and they lose their balance a bit – and that’s why they usually go for big hits. Kohli, though, retains balance and composure when he walks down the track or moves towards off. He can still tee off if necessary, but can still adapt to the changes of length and pace, and react. All this is of course easier to do on a track like this where there were no seam movement or great turn.

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It wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t end up on the winning side. Ajinkya Rahane played a T20 version of a Dinesh Mongia knock. Thrust into the big semi-final game, on a pitch that initially was a touch sluggish, he couldn’t just get going. He tried to push back, create his own length and pull the spinners but didn’t have the matches under his belt that was needed to pull them off. It wasn’t a dawdle of course but on a big night like this, on a pitch like this, it needed more than a run-a-ball kind of an innings. Kohli was also let down by the bowlers, who took wickets of no-ball and the spinners couldn’t produce any magic on a pitch that didn’t give them much assistance and proved cannon fodder to rambunctious Caribbean batsmen.

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On the day he ran like a man driven by something beyond just adrenaline, he was brought down by his team-mates’ inability to extend themselves, and more importantly, by some awe-inspiring, and as ever delightful, Caribbean flair.