Virat Kohli's Farewell Dance Down Under

Sydney: The crowd's reaction to Kohli's presumed last Test innings Down Under was mixed. They started by booing him, then cheered him, and eventually even cheered when he asked them to. However, as he walked off the field, the chorus at the Sydney Cricket Ground was a blend of boos and admiration. Unlike other cricketing greats who are usually given a standing ovation when they play their final match on foreign soil, Kohli did not receive the same send-off.

Rather, the home crowd seemed to be asking: “What is wrong with Kohli?” A question Australia had not asked of Kohli for a long time. He got under their skin, he was spiky… spunky. But he backed it up with performances on the field; performances that told of an almost unhinged desire to win. Australia didn’t mind that — they loved the idea of someone coming to their backyard and picking up a fight.

Perhaps the ending (if it indeed is) shouldn’t surprise anyone. For this is how it began all those years ago, when Kohli first toured Australia in 2011/12. We all remember Kohli ‘flip the bird’ at a section of the SCG crowd during the second Test back then. It had led to the 50% docking of his match fee. He had tweeted later that the crowd had said the “worst things” about mothers and sisters.

It was only after scoring his first Test hundred, at the Adelaide Oval in the fourth Test, did he open up.

“To give it back verbally and then score a hundred is even better,” he had said. “I mean, we don’t go out there to take any kind of stuff from anyone. We are international cricketers as well. They should know that. We need to let them know that. Be it in any way. By talking and by performing. It’s much more satisfying.

“They sledge when they get frustrated. Obviously, it was hot out there, and constantly they were sledging the players so they could spoil our concentration. During that partnership they went really, really low. In Sydney they were after me because I wasn’t scoring. Today they were pissed (off) because I got a hundred; so, it hasn’t changed much but the reasons have changed.”

It hasn’t changed much. Really.

Uncompromising

Over the years, Kohli, 36, showed he was a tough competitor. Australia respected that and his seven Test centuries in the country — the most by an Indian player — reflect that.

In the lead-up to this Border Gavaskar Trophy series, the headlines and advertisements were all about Kohli and Pat Cummins. Not Rohit Sharma. Not even Jasprit Bumrah. To many in Australia, India is Kohli. He has been so much ‘in your face’ over the years that he has been impossible to ignore.

In 30 Tests against Australia, Kohli aggregates 2,232 runs (avg 43.76), including nine hundreds. Of that, his 18 Tests in Australia account for 1,542 runs (@46.72 with 7 100s).

If you walk on the streets in an India jersey, be prepared to be asked about Kohli. Bumrah can’t be explained. Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman still command respect. Sehwag was a thriller. But if you want to argue, Kohli is the man. The Steve Smith versus Virat Kohli ‘who is better’ debate is a polite starter. Things get uglier when the conversation moves to how his behaviour compares with that of Ricky Ponting. It gets really turbulent when his shoulder charge of 19-year-old Sam Konstas in Melbourne comes up.

To many Aussies, that was a low point. He couldn’t possibly sink any further than getting physical on a cricket field with a teenager. Kohli was being a bully.

“It gives you an indication of his mental state at the moment,” Isa Guha said of that moment on Fox. “The Kohli of 2014 would’ve thrived off this. He’s coming to the end of his career, he’s had a period of being quite mellow. Yes, he made a mistake on Day 1 (with Konstas), the media are on him. It’s a sign of what his mental state is that he’s getting frustrated by all these things around him.”

The things around him also include the ‘outside noise’ which he ignores. But every little thing seems to irritate him. The Australian crowd can see that. They know it doesn’t take much to get under his skin. Everything was personal. Everything was an affront to his values. So, they bait him and he bites.

On the final day of the tour, with Australia well in command at the SCG, a few chants of “Kohli is a w****r” had the former skipper making sandpaper jokes. He pretended to empty his pockets then checked his pants and gestured as if to say he wasn’t hiding anything. It was a cheap shot, but it was so Kohli. Public enemy No.1.

Bouncing back

At Perth, Kohli’s century seemed to make Australia happy — a chance to see the great rediscovering his best form against a competitive team, in the land where he announced himself in Test cricket.

“One of the paradoxes of sport is that while we rejoice in its unpredictability, we like it all the more when it feels scripted,” said cricket writer and historian Gideon Haigh. “The Aussie media had been playing up the threat of a resurgent Kohli. Beware the tiger! Don’t poke the bear! That skittish first innings was a let down; but then, by golly, we got what we came for.”

After that, record crowds turned up wherever the Indians went. They lined up for autographs and selfies, filled the stands and made so much noise that Cummins often felt he was playing in India. Kohli, however, never found his Perth form again.

If anything, he only seemed to get angrier. Perhaps it was a rage to mask his inadequacy. The eight dismissals outside off-stump were telling not just for their manner but also because they showed how far Kohli has fallen. The fans could see it and sense it too. He had been a hero to many, including Konstas and Nitish Reddy, who grew up in the last 20 years. They may not know Allan Border, or how Sunil Gavaskar played, but they know Kohli.

Over his last 40 Tests, Kohli has averaged 32.29. You wondered what was going wrong and whether it could be rectified? Was it the hands? Was it the eyes? Was it technical? The discussions were never-ending — in the papers and on the street.

When former India coach Greg Chappell, who averaged 53.86 over 87 Tests, was asked the question, his answer was telling: “I don’t think the player’s hand-eye coordination drops off at this age. It’s more just the mental capacity, durability to be able to focus and concentrate that hard. But I don’t buy into the argument that the mind goes. It’s just that you can’t give it the single-minded focus that you did when you were younger; your life changes, you get married, you have families, all of a sudden you’ve got other things that are coming into that mental space that wasn’t happening before and therefore you finish up with just less of that space to be able to put in that effort.”

Everything about Kohli off the field seems right. He’s fit. He’s sincere at training. He’s intense. In Melbourne, where the nets are at a lower level than the viewing gallery, fans would hover around during his sessions — they were, by far, the most watched, the most appreciated.

In the Sydney Test, after Bumrah’s involvement was ruled out due to a back spasm, Kohli was stand-in captain. It seemed to temporarily lift him. The chest-thumping ways of old returned.

When Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed, Kohli charged onto the field, bat over his shoulder — looking to be the hero. He wanted to take the game on. He wanted it to be 2011-12 again. But it wasn’t to be.

“It’ll be sad if it’s his last series (against Australia),” Cummins said after the SCG Test. “It’s always been a wonderful contest. It’s always more than just the runs that he brings to the game. It’s always a bit of added theatre, which is sometimes good. Sometimes it can rile you up as an opposition, which I’m sure is part of his plans. If we don’t get another chance, it’s going to be a shame.”

A journey that began with a roar has ended in a whimper, and that is not how Australia would like to remember Kohli. Maybe in that, there’s a certain element of theatre too.

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