“Jab India mein yeh log aayengey, tab dikha doonga” reads almost like the dialogue from a Bollywood masala film in the 70s except that it was voiced by a certain Virat Kohli, the new age fearless Indian cricketing superstar after yet another abysmal tour of the Antipodes. This from a man whose attitude made us believe that no target is unachievable and no territory unconquerable, was disappointing in the extreme. It was a big letdown for his supporters for he had always walked the talk, believing that the frontiers hitherto unbreached were there for the taking if only his men believed in their abilities as he did in his.

Across the decades generations of Indian cricket aficionados watched their teams return battered and bruised from their overseas campaigns without so much as a semblance of a fight as they succumbed to the pace and swing of their opponents making them the poorest travellers in the circuit.

The presence of the fab four with the deviceful Sehwag to boot did little to change the reputation of the Indians as bad abroad with the stray illuminations being invariably followed by dismal performances, a not too impressive pace attack doing little to assist their more illustrious willow wielding colleagues.

The elevation of Kohli as skipper did not immediately reverse that reputation with the dismal defeats on foreign shores continuing with the same regularity. But one was filled with a new sense of optimism as the captain took it upon himself to work on technique and temperament alike to iron out those flaws and set the template for those triumphant tours on treacherous terrain. With a fast-improving array of fast bowlers that were gaining in pace as well as ability, Virat knew that the time had come for Team India to make a real statement as the No. 1 team in the world, if only the batters could get their act together.

The losses against England and South Africa in those countries were not altogether hopeless and the general opinion was that the series’ were competitive and could have gone either way as a couple of sessions made the difference. The captain made the crucial adjustments to his technique to considerably enhance his standing as an all conditions player exorcising his bugbear Anderson in the bargain. Despite doubts expressed about the actual returns from various quarters, successful tours of West Indies and Australia shut up the naysayers and the nation gradually began to believe that their team was deserving of the ranking of the No 1 test playing nation in the world.

With all concerns duly addressed and the boxes fairly ticked the team landed in New Zealand to play in synthetic cricket pitches and was set to demolish all remaining doubts and cement their position at the top. However, things did not proceed according to plan and the Indians were well and truly beaten by a team which in any case is one of the hardest teams to beat in home conditions. What exacerbated the problem was the horrid form of the skipper who simply could not find a way to get the runs despite looking comfortable in the middle. With the team headed towards their second successive loss the mental composure of the captain suffered and he let loose a volley against the rival captain after being previously at pains to reject all reports that dubbed it a ’revenge’ series saying that the Black Caps were too “nice” to warrant such an emotion. To begin with, this was not the Kohli his fans were familiar with as the emotional intensity and competitiveness, one always felt, defined him and, needless to say, brought out the best in him. Unable to deal with the frustration of the glaring technical incompetencies of his batsmen and their abject surrender, all niceties disappeared and Kohli could not stop himself from promising vengeance when the Kiwis came visiting.

This was a wasted emotion as one is all too familiar with the inadequacies of the vising Kiwis in subcontinental conditions demonstrated by their failure to win a single series in India till date. Even more dispiriting is the attitude displayed by arguably the most competitive cricketer that the country has ever produced, whose constant effort to stretch his limits and challenge himself to achieve more has inspired a generation of cricketers including his colleagues. The pronouncement leads one to wonder if it is thus far and no further for King Kohli, whether he has ceased to accept the challenges in the realization that the capacity for change has diminished. That would be a sad day indeed for Indian as well as world cricket for that would signal the end of the infinite range of awe-inspiring goals that this splendid cricketer promises and has made a habit of realizing.

Article By : Shantanu Sharma 

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