Kohli rises with the title on the line

Kolkata: Virat Kohli has retired from T20Is. Finally, some might add. There wasn’t much of a T20I career to speak of in the last two years. The future had already arrived and kicked down the door. But Kohli was still picked for the T20 World Cup, and in the eleven over Yashasvi Jaiswal, over younger and gutsier permutations and combinations.

Now you know why. It was worth the wait, though undercut by a fair bit of trepidation. For 75 runs and two ducks in seven games was far from how you would have expected Kohli to extend his spectacular run in IPL. Rohit Sharma probably had an inkling. Otherwise, why wasn’t he not troubled by Kohli’s form?

You can choose to fall back on the saying about class being permanent. But it didn’t hold much ground when the world was moving ahead and Kohli refused to let go of the idea of leaving the heavy lifting to others. Once he was convinced of the idea though, Kohli was all in. Irony of all ironies, thus, when India needed Kohli to dial back his aggression and ensure all 20 overs were played out in the final. You could always argue that his innings was slow and largely benign, not really in the spirit of the format. But would you have preferred it otherwise? That too in the final, after India were 34/3 and a whisker away from calamity?

Only a hassle-free Kohli could have played that part so well, probably because he has subconsciously prepared for it all his life. Throughout his 16-year career, Kohli’s fight has been against bowlers, opposing teams and pitches, but also against an invisible adversary — inconsistency. It is this desire to stay relevant that has driven Kohli to play the way he does in T20s. And for a man who hates losing, it cannot be said that Kohli has no ego. It was thus hard to comprehend a most accomplished career without a closure of this magnitude. Kohli wouldn’t have allowed it.

Which is why it seemed sensible for Kohli to break down India’s innings. Get to 100, then 130, 160, be part of the whole stretch bar the last seven balls. It was also his team’s choice to have Kohli bat as anchor while others batted around him. “We wanted someone to bat as long as possible and Virat did that perfectly,” Rohit Sharma said after India’s win. “These are not wickets where you can come and bat freely and keep the scoreboard ticking straightaway, so we do understand that.”

In hindsight, it’s easy to say Kohli was due this innings, that this type of batting was up his sleeve. But when you have been through all the highs and lows — including a miserable two-year phase without a hundred — of life, you never know what awaits round the corner.

“I was telling Rohit today when we went out to bat that one day you feel like you can’t get a run, and then you come out and things happen,” said Kohli, emotion getting the better of him at times. “Put my head down and ego on the side. If you think you are everything and can do wonders, you are nothing. You really have to respect the situation. And God showed me that if you get too ahead of yourself, then I will pull you back and I will keep you in your spot.”

There have been more riveting Kohli innings — Melbourne 2022, Mohali 2016, or Dhaka 2014. All were chases though. This time Kohli was heading into the unknown, scanning the field, reading the bowlers who were barely giving any width, curbing his shots while keeping the scoreboard moving. Which, frankly, requires greater skill and a level of tenacity only Kohli could have exhibited.

Kohli’s place in the pantheon was never doubted. But his last hurrah in T20Is typically came for the greatest cause in his career. Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Kohli — this list makes much more sense now.