Saturday 04 / May / 2024
Before Kedar Jadhav got the cramps, almost fell on the stumps trying to execute a pull on his stiff, aching legs and eventually walked back to the dressing room taking India from an ethereally distant dream of a victory to an earthly possibility just 60 runs away, the Pune boy displayed his art of whipping up silky flicks and flawless cuts to outsmart Virat Kohli in their 200-run partnership — but equally impressive was his knack of displaying respectful indifference.
Jadhav said after the game that watching Kohli bat from the other end had been a long-cherished dream, but when the dream came true he showed the audacity to express his mind, maturity and a correct reading of the situation to his skipper that saved India from losing a wicket which, considering the situation, would have put the spring back in the steps of Eoin Morgan and Co and made the chase difficult, even impossible, for India.
Jadhav was aware of his limitations. Not a quick runner, but responded to the captain’s calls as best as he could. When he couldn’t, he stood his ground, often sending his skipper back to the crease. Not just once or twice, but whenever the situation, or his limitations, demanded it.
Jadhav was brilliant at both keeping the scoreboard ticking and rotating the strike, so the rhythm of the chase was managed well and Kohli didn’t get stagnated at the other end. The most interesting episode of their partnership came in the 32nd over, when Kohli was on 99, needing a single to a well-crafted century. The easiest route to that was not surely aerial, from an individual point of view as well as from the point of view of a team 128 runs short of the target when middle-order heroes like MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh were back in the change room.
Kohli was clear in his mind about the safe, single way forward, but after failing thrice in a row to put the ball where Jadhav felt risk-free — the third time Jadhav sent back, rightly, his skipper — there was only one way for Kohli. He charged down the pitch and lofted the ball over the mid-on boundary for six. What a way to reach a century, yes, but look at the context and you will appreciate it more.
Before the century drama, Kohli had expressed his mind to Jadhav in words and gestures, discreetly and openly, many times, and it was easy for a lesser mortal to toe his skipper’s line. If Jadhav didn’t show respectful indifference to Kohli, India would have lost a wicket well short of their match-winning 200-run partnership and the Pune classic might have a different ending than one it actually had.
Kohli is among the rare breed of players who think it’s possible to win even when the chips are down, so the Pune victory is going to make him stronger than ever. A matter of concern was the performance of Dhoni and Yuvraj. You need to express the intent and convey the message to the opposition, as Kohli did with the fourth ball he had faced, but what Dhoni and Yuvraj did was stupid. You don’t try to hit every ball thrown at you to the ropes unless it is the last over of a game. It’s strange the veterans don’t remember the basics.
England have a strong batting unit. More powerful than India’s, perhaps. Nothing extraordinary on both sides in terms of bowling. The difference between the two teams comes down to just one player: Virat Kohli. The man who seemed unaware of the magic he conjured up in the 34th over. As the ball sailed over the ropes between deep midwicket and long-on for six, as bowler Chris Woakes stared at the path taken by the ball in disbelief and as the England fielders stood in shock, Kohli was busy adjusting the strap of his gloves. The slower, short-of-a-length delivery would have produced either a dot ball or a single if it was to deal with any normal guy operating under the limits of gravity, space and time.
A moment of glorious indifference. That’s the fact. The fiction? It’s an act of an alien.
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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
