Bristling Kohli imposes himself

It took a Test and a day, but the man who loomed largest over the Domain Test Series between India and Australia has assumed centre stage in the manner expected of a solo star.

With his team in real peril of revisiting the calamities that have undermined previous campaigns in Australia, where they are yet to taste Test series success, India’s captain Virat Kohli not so much strode to the crease as stormed the wicket block.

He held no tangible right to appear so bullish, given he passed the second of his failed opening pair on his way to the middle, and the huge electronic scoreboards at Perth’s pristine stadium flashed a scoreline of 2-8.

He also carried with him the shadow of limited impact on the campaign to date – scores of three and 34 as well as a last-day catch were important, yet scarcely decisive contributions to India’s 31-run win in the series opener at Adelaide.

But obvious concern about the latest failures against Australia – which stretched to 83 runs from his past seven Test innings at a tailender’s average of less than 12 – was nowhere to be seen amid the bravado he brought to today.

Or perhaps it was.

The fact that Kohli fairly surged out from the subterranean tunnel leading from his team’s dressing room, and bristled as he strode, wide-eyed, towards the centre where the Australians were gathered in euphoria maybe told its own wordless tale.

His opponents surely noticed his non-verbal aggression, and doubtless hoped it might lead him to self-destruct.

But by day’s end, Kohli was unbeaten on 82 and had therefore secured his first personal triumph of the campaign, while a larger one beckons for him upon resumption tomorrow.

For if Kohli can somehow find a way to guide his inexperienced middle-order and a quartet of tailenders past Australia’s total of 326 – currently 154 runs in the distance – and into a position of unlikely advantage, then his already vaunted status will be further enhanced.

It is widely accepted that Kohli thrives when situations challenge.

His batting record in ODI run chases is but one remarkable element of a career already overladen with accompanying superlatives.

Yet to carry the swagger and execute the combativeness that he took to Australia’s bowlers in the most hostile surrounds today may ultimately rank as one of his foremost achievements.

Abetting the gladiatorial atmosphere into which Kohli so defiantly strode early this afternoon was the game’s escalating trend that had seen six wickets fall in the course of ten overs, all in starkly similar circumstances.

The Perth pitch that was supposed to imperil batters due to the ball flying from it at unstoppable speeds and impossible angles was, instead, offering sufficiently subtle assistance to seamers who pitched up and aimed at the stumps.

Three of those six wickets to fall at the end of Australia’s innings and the disastrous start to India’s were comprehensively bowled; a pair of them nicked off trying to drive, and there was an lbw upon which not even technology could shed doubt.

Yet from the moment that Kohli scratched his guard into the malevolent surface at 1.10pm, he looked to have brought with him a pitch made specifically to his own taste.

Those full-length balls that had brought heartburn for those lesser players proved Kohli’s bread and butter.

Staunchly into line behind the first ball he faced from Josh Hazlewood, his counter-attack was launched from the second which he flicked without apparent effort or concern through the narrows at mid-on and on to the boundary.

Hazlewood then pulled back his length, so Kohli rode the rising balls accordingly.

The first was deftly culled through the gap in Australia’s cordon for a couple of runs, the next couple left alone or negotiated with a surety that suggested Kohli already felt infallibility where others had looked habitually ill-at-ease.

So Hazlewood reverted to the proven plan, and Kohli was waiting for him.

Like a master general who had foreseen his enemy’s battle blueprint.

Three times in as many balls, Hazlewood attacked the India captain’s stumps. 

Three times Kohli sent him to the rope – a clip through mid-on, followed by a slapping extra-cover drive, and then a reprise of his first effort.

The world’s number-one Test batter had faced 10 balls and found 18 runs, a dominance in keeping with his exalted world ranking but fully out-of-kilter with the rhythm and restrictions that pitch conditions have imposed upon this match.

And then, just as he seemed destined to take the Test by the throat, Kohli throttled back as Australia aimed for containment.

It provided an abject lesson as to why the 30-year-old is currently judged to have no peers as a batter at the elite level.

As much as rival teams dismiss suggestions they watch and learn from their opponents, there was a couple of lessons that Kohli freely offered today.

His capacity to quell the initial adrenaline rush and slip back through the gears as Australia’s bowlers applied the clamps was surely instructive to Travis Head, whose own vital innings was cut short yesterday due to his intemperance.

Having taken the attack to India’s bowlers on his way to 58 a day earlier, Head saw the arrival of the second new ball on Friday evening as a chance to further lift his scoring rate rather than a warning to curb his instincts and survive until stumps.

As a result, he fell to an extravagant slash as part of a clear plan from India’s bowlers, whereas Kohli today bottled his aggressive habits and soaked up an unlikely 85 dot balls in reaching 50.

The next test of Kohli’s will seems likely to emerge if his current batting partner Ajinkya Rahane (51 not out) should be the first wicket to fall on day three.

That would see the captain facing the remainder of his rescue mission accompanied by two middle-order batters with limited Test experience and unproved temperaments (Hanuma Vihari and Rishabh Pant), and then seamers Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah.

A foursome that boasts a solitary Test half-century between them.

Whether Kohli reverts to his expansive game, or continues to squeeze every available delivery out of Australia’s attack as part of a longer plan to secure an historic Test series win remains to be seen.

What is beyond question is the self-belief he will bring to the method he adopts.

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval, India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Second Test, Perth Stadium

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar