Kohli's England tour a long way behind him

When Virat Kohli was asked on the eve of this series about India's 2014 tour of England, he dealt with the question like it was a looping half-volley on middle and leg.

"It was just another two months in my life, nothing more than that," he said bluntly.

"I don't know why still that England phase is being spoken about.

"I don't live in the yesterday, I don't think anyone does.

"It's all about looking forward to tomorrow.

"If you keep sulking in the past, there's no way you're going to move on in life and that's something I believe in."

Speaking in Adelaide at the first of what will surely be many press conferences as India's Test captain, Kohli's response could well have been construed as dismissive and even a little short.

But rather it was confident and assertive, much like his batting, and showed that England was a simply period of his career that he was keen to draw a line under.

The two-and-a-half month, 13-match tour of the UK is the sole blemish on Kohli's burgeoning resume, which already boasts 30 international hundreds.

The right-hander failed to register a half-century in 10 innings during the Tests, averaging 13.40, and scored 45 runs in the four ODIs, with his 66 in the one-off T20 his highest international score of the tour.

It was an unexpected and significant drop in form for a batsman who Kapil Dev believes will end up with more international centuries than Sachin Tendulkar.

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A batsman who has scored six of his nine Test tons outside India - four in Australia and one each in South Africa and New Zealand.

A batsman who already has more ODI centuries to his name than Adam Gilchrist, Kumar Sangakkara, Brian Lara and Jacques Kallis.

A batsman so talented and destructive that he reminds Sir Vivian Richards of himself.

Searching for answers for Kohli's slump in England, sections of India's media were quick to blame his Bollywood girlfriend Anushka Sharma, who was with him for the first two Tests of that series (as she was at the MCG today).

But Kohli, as he explained in Adelaide two weeks ago, was quick to move on.

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His scores for India since leaving the UK read like an equation that would confound John Nash; 2, 62, 127, 22, 49, 53, 66, 139*, 60, 66, 115, 141, 19, 1 and a magnificent 169 today, his third century of this Commonwealth Bank series and fifth against Australia.

It's a string of scores that mirror his form before the England tour and prove that his performances in the UK were the exception rather than the rule.

He's scored runs in Tests and ODIs, in the first innings and the second, setting up the match and chasing it.

Injured Australia captain Michael Clarke has been on the receiving end of many a Kohli masterpiece, most recently during the first Test in Adelaide.

Speaking from the safety of the Channel Nine commentary box today, Clarke gave an insight into the helplessness a captain feels when Kohli is in the mood.

"One of his greatest strengths and why he's had so much success in all three forms of the game (is his ability to) score the whole way around the ground," Clarke said.

"It doesn't matter where you bowl. If you drop a little bit short, or get a little bit full, he'll find a way to score.

"The ball was spinning (in Adelaide); Nathan Lyon had the ball turning.

"He was playing against the spin through the off-side, taking the ball with the spin (through the on-side).

"He was in such good form that it didn't matter where we put fielders ... he was good enough to find the gaps.

"Virat can hit the ball hard along the ground for four but he's also got the power to go over the ropes, which we saw in Adelaide."

As good as Kohli's first-innings 115 in Adelaide was, his second-innings 141 displayed the full palette of his genius.

Having come to the wicket on the final day with India 2-57 in pursuit of 364 for victory, Kohli rebuilt the innings with Murali Vijay before seamlessly switching to one-day mode as he eyed off what would have been one of Test cricket's greatest ever run chases.

And save for a misplaced pull stroke that eventually and awkwardly nestled in Mitchell Marsh's hands on the mid-wicket boundary, Kohli could well have pulled it off.

The extent of his ability was on full display again today during an innings that was near flawless, aside from a very shaky period against the second new ball that he was fortunate to survive.

He was particularly damaging in front of square on the off-side; 10 his 18 boundaries come between forward point and straight mid-off, five of them off Mitchell Johnson.

When brute power wasn't an option, Kohli opted for the more delicate approach; 41 of his 55 singles came on the leg-side, 17 of which were behind square.

It's the same positive intent that underlined his twin tons in Adelaide, and an ODI career that has yielded 21 hundreds, 33 fifties and an average in excess of 50.

"Before coming here I told myself I'm going to be positive against these bowlers in these conditions and look to dominate," Kohli said after play.

"There's no good reason why I should change my game too much from one-day cricket into Test matches.

"Sometimes we end up thinking too much in Test cricket and forget to play our natural game.

"That's what's working for us in Test match cricket; that intent, that positivity, that thinking of taking on the bowlers is something that is very important and that's what I thought before coming to Australia."

It's Kohli's extraordinary self-belief as much as his good form that means India are still very much in this match, despite trailing on the first innings by 68 runs with just two wickets in hand and two days to play.

On a drop-in surface that is still perfect for batting, Kohli will no doubt back himself to drag his side over the line in the fourth-innings chase, no matter how daunting the victory target is.

"We saw he did it well in Adelaide, but I must admit we haven't even talked about that yet," Aussie quick Ryan Harris said after play.

"When he's going like that you've just got to try and bowl nice and tight.

"If he runs at you and hits you over the top ... with the wicket the way it is, it gets tough when the ball's old and the wicket's not doing much.

"It was the same in Adelaide. These drop-in wickets - they're a bit more advanced here in Melbourne than they are in Adelaide - the variable bounce just doesn't happen much at all.

"You've just got to make sure you stick to your plan and ... we did that most of the time today and Virat especially played some good shots.

"When that happens, you've just got to go back to your mark and do it all again."

It's an admirable and philosophical approach from Harris, one that his hard to argue with in the face of India's new batting prince in such good touch.

And with Kohli still just 26-years-old, one gets the feeling bowlers the world over will have to adopt a similar mindset for at least a decade to come.