Saturday 04 / May / 2024
When Ben Stokes turned away from the exiting batsman and put his hand over his mouth as the rest of the England team celebrated getting Virat Kohli out on day two of the Mohali Test, the fiery England allrounder’s apparent attempt at playing up to the cameras looked like a smart choice under the circumstances to send the message across to the Kohli camp without attracting another demerit point on his disciplinary record.
The stage was then set for Kohli to come up with a counter-punch.
After Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jayant Jadav pushed the Indian scoreboard past England’s first innings total and eventually posted a 134-run lead, the rest of the game, from an Indian fans’ point of view, was not about how Kohli and his boys were going to win the match, but about how the Indian skipper was going to get Stokes out and give it all back to him with interest.
Kohli was lucky to escape ICC punishment for his role in the altercation with Stokes on day one. Though it wasn’t clear who started the verbal spat, Stokes looked like responding to a rude sendoff for which he found himself before the match referee after stumps while Kohli bantered with his colleagues. Another instance of potty-mouthed exchange on the field of play could have landed Kohli also in trouble, so the challenge was about doing it on the quiet.
A few things needed to fall into place. First, England had to be in bad shape when Stokes walked in. Ashwin did that first part well, sending Alastair Cook and Moeen Ali back to the dressing room inside 20 overs, so Stokes had to survive 18 overs on day three and two entire days to avoid defeat. When Ashwin trapped Stokes in front of the wicket in the final over of the day and reviewed an unfavourable decision to leave England on 74 for the loss of four top-order batsmen, that was a perfect opportunity for Kohli to thumb his nose at Stokes.
Standing cocky at the end of an aggressive celebration, Kohli raised his right hand to greet someone in the dressing room and then smartly placed his index finger on his lips in an all-quiet gesture as Stokes walked off the field, but the cameras couldn’t miss the finger extending a bit beyond the lips to touch the nose. Kohli is “quite a vocal character”, as Jonny Bairstow has observed, even when it’s all quiet on the western front.
What makes the 2-0 Indian scorecard in the five-Test series sweeter for the home side is the fact that the victories came on normal pitches without the help of the infamous devils hiding in the cracks. The pitches in Rajkot, Vizakhapatnam and Mohali were quite unlike the dustbowls of the past where the ball turned on day one itself. Rajkot offered nothing for the spinners, and the pitches in Vizag and Mohali provided a fair chance for the batsmen and the bowlers on both sides.
The victories on pitches that held firm even on day four and even when India lost the toss and batted second make Kohli smile confidently at the end of the match and say he has “no worries, absolutely” about the remaining two Tests. Unfortunately, it’s no time for Cook to smile as he has to deal with problems ranging from slotting in the right bloke to open the innings with him in place of the injured Haseeb Hameed, to inspiring his batsmen to somehow knock up runs in excess of 400 in case he wins the toss again. He was happy to spot “lots of English faces” at Mohali and felt “great to have that support”. Hopefully, many of them will be heading for Mumbai where they are destined to be lost in a sea of noisy Indian fans. A better show from Cook and his team could put some smile on their face, and that will be a better way of saying thanks.
The writer is a freelance contributor based in India. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman
