Kohli on song as India trump rivals

You cannot remove two nations from cricketing debates — India and Pakistan. Emotions raging, pulse racing, heart beats hammering, flared tempers, nerves frayed, all this can be experienced when these two teams are there on the cricket field. And, not necessarily against each other.

The first six days of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia have indeed been surcharged as these two nations have charted their courses in the fiercest cricket competition with different results. You cannot doubt the intensity and the integrity of the players from these two countries. Yet, when you see morning newspaper headlines, it appears as if one nation has won a war and the other nation has been reduced to rubbles.

Yes, Team India is on an incredible high. Two matches of different natures brought out the best results for the men in Blue, though there is still room for improvement. In contrast, Pakistan has stuttered, spluttered and suffered.

Cricket is an emotion. And when fans get so deeply involved in it, the romance brings out the best actions and reactions. There will be tears of joy and tears shed in agony. For India, from Diwali eve onwards, it has been unadulterated joy while Pakistan's cup of woes is overflowing. The worst they could have ever imagined was being bounced out by a spirited Zimbabwe, a match result which has crippled Pakistan's cricketing ethos and pathos.

First things first, the good news from the results of Team India. Everyone knew minus Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja on the flight to Australia, there would be turbulence. However, on landing in Australia, the team acclimatised well and showed they have to do with whatever resources are available. There are multiple positives for India and a few negatives as well.

One must focus on the positives first. And this is where the name of King Kohli comes first to the mind. The former India captain's journey has indeed been beautiful. He looked the loner out there in the middle of the cricket pitch when he was struggling with his batting. We heard all kinds of stories about Kohli — some real, some fictitious. The real story about Kohli is his own voyage in rediscovering the art of batting. It has been a terrific journey. In the end, it's not Kohli who has achieved personal milestones, but has put India in a position of power.

Oh, how often did we hear he was being given far too many chances. There was a chatter and banter, Kohli was past prime, his shelf life was over. Kohli kept quiet, even when former greats like Sunil Gavaskar were taunting him during the first phase of the Covid-19 wave in 2020. There were images of Kohli, perhaps batting on his terrace in Mumbai, where Bollywood star and wife Anushka Sharma was also seen in the frame,

The uproar the image created, laced with Gavaskar's comments, were distasteful. Someone like Gavaskar has atoned for those remarks, perhaps made in haste, when he was jumping in joy after India beat Pakistan in a match where adrenaline-flow was at an all-time high. Images of Gavaskar bouncing on his feet caught the eye, where the legend was seen wearing a cap to beat the cold. Luckily, Gavaskar was not in the commentary booth, but down below in the stands, from where he could express his emotions like you and me.

This, indeed, is the power of Kohli. Bringing out extreme emotions from fans, of which even Sunil Manohar Gavaskar is a part of. The less said the better about Ravi Shastri, as the chemistry between him and Kohli has been gold standard. If these two legends — Gavaskar and Shastri — are forced to outwardly celebrate the joy brought by Kohli, you can well imagine how the global cricket fans are celebrating.

It would not be wrong to make a comparison between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. Both are batters who entertain and both are great innovators. Sachin, despite his smaller frame, generated power in his shots where there was something more like a nudge/tap/push and not a full flow of the bat. In contrast, what one is seeing from Kohli since the time he collared the Afghanistan bowling attack in the Asia Cup, is giving uninhibited expression to his batting.

Kohli's serenity is monk-like. His concentration is like that of an ascetic on the hills, as if in penance. Yes, he was meditating and concentrating. When he came down to the cricket pitch and exploded, it was with a bang. The knock he produced against Pakistan was defining and defying. There was aura and there was arrogance. There was calmness and composure as well. And the classic six which he hammered, using the muscle power of his upper body, is still being deconstructed by experts in biomechanics. Nothing like this has been seen before. And for executing a shot like that, Kohli has been preparing himself with the manic hunger of a heavyweight boxer and the inner calm of a monk.

Yes, these are two extreme virtues. For Kohli to blend these two has been a visual delight as he continues to reinvent the wheel. If his knock against Pakistan was dynamite, the effort against Netherlands was more another day in office types. Surely, if criticism could spur a professional cricketer to reach such dizzying heights, Kohli has shown that he is not a human, but superhuman.

It's worth recalling how lovingly Kohli spoke about the relation between him and Anushka after the effort in the Asia Cup when he had hammered that hundred against Afghanistan. He made it clear he had one soulmate to share his feelings with. The words he spoke still resonate as it explained how much he has struggled with his own batting, coping with pressure and what was needed to maintain that inner calm. It also did bring out how tough it was not to have cricketing friends!

They say, sometimes keeping quiet is more dangerous than screaming. This time, Kohli is crying, like he did after that knock against Pakistan. It was a release of emotions to reboot. The beneficiaries of it are Team India and billions of his fans the world over. Be sure, Kohli may be hated for destroying Pakistan, almost single-handedly, but he still has a large following across the border. They love the grammar of his batting and how he can reduce rival bowlers to rubble. We will get to see more from Kohli not just in this World Cup but the coming 12 months. There is no way you can fault this man for worshipping his body like a temple and being so fit. He is 33 but the fitness level, stamina and energy are at an all-time high. For India's sake, he should keep going like this, at least till the 2023 World Cup in India, in the ODI format.

To think all problems are over for India would be wrong. Rohit Sharma did score a half century against Netherlands but KL Rahul has been a disaster. He needs to be dropped and the batting order needs to be reworked. There is also no debate over Dinesh Karthik versus Rishabh Pant. Karthik's glove work has been club class and all talk of him being a top-finisher seems misplaced. At 37, one must go with Pant as he is the one for the future. If you are grooming wicket-keepers for the 2023 World Cup, DK does not fit into the scheme of things. You need to go with Pant and Sanju Samson, or someone else who is younger and fresher.

Back to Pakistan, their campaign is as good as over. The loss to Zimbabwe was massive. Losing of the last delivery was crazy. It brings into focus how T20 cricket is ruthless. It also exposes how teams perform or perish under pressure. Against India, the pressure was soaring. Yet, to fail against a highly motivated Zimbabwe side is not going to be accepted.

The knives are out in Pakistan for the Pakistan Cricket Control Board (PCB) mandarins. Their selection policy is being questioned. Former greats like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar are ripping Pakistan. They feel the collective pain of their nation (Pakistan). India is celebrating but it must not be done in a cheap way by scoffing at Pakistan. We have been through these lows last year in the ICC World T20.

This edition has already shown that minnows is a wrong word to be used. Zimbabwe were out in the cold. They were banned from international cricket some years ago. Their return has been brilliant. Ireland is doing well, too. After all, to defeat England is a big deal. The rivalries being enacted Down Under are worth lapping up every day. This World Cup is indeed rocking. A word of advice, don't think India has won the cup. There is a long distance to go and there are gaps to be plugged.

Nobody knows this better than Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid. Celebrate, yes, but do not go overboard. Each T20 match is emotional and that alone makes such a big difference these days. Today (October 30), India will be meeting South Africa. Good luck guys.

Views expressed are personal