3, 22, 1, 8—those have been Virat Kohli’s scores in four international white ball games in Cuttack during which he has played all of 33 balls.
Kohli’s aggregate of 34 at the Barabati Stadium is his lowest among all venues in India where he has played at least three matches. And he goes into Sunday’s series-deciding One-day International here having scored 4 and 0 in the earlier games of this ODI series, in Chennai and Visakhapatnam.
Cuttack contradicts all that Kohli stands for. He who scores runs with focus that is unwavering—Kohli is the fastest to 10,000 ODI runs getting to the landmark in 205 innings 54 less than what Sachin Tendulkar took—one who has made Virat and vivacity interchangeable in the context of batting and who averaged 133.55 in ODIs in 2018.
Kohli reminds Viv Richards of himself; he is the next chosen one, said Martin Crowe.
“He exudes the intensity of Dravid, the audacity of Sehwag, and the extraordinary range of Tendulkar. That doesn’t make him better, simply sui generis, his own unique kind,” Crowe had said.
It is one of cricket’s quirks that Kohli and Cuttack haven’t been the best of pals; an oddity like this amphitheatre where new architecture sits incongruously next to the old.
A reminder too that even for the best in business this stays a one-ball game.
The last time an ODI was played here, against England on January 19, 2017, Kohli made eight in five balls.
India’s third over began with Kohli hitting two off-driven boundaries off Chris Woakes but ended with him edging a delivery wide outside off-stump to Ben Stokes at second slip.
From 22/2, India were 25/3 after 4.4 overs when Woakes got Shikhar Dhawan and it took every bit of belligerence and brilliance Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni could conjure for India to win the match and the series.
“Two of the greats stood up,” said Kohli referring to Singh’s 150 and Dhoni’s 134.
Kohli skipped the T20 against Sri Lanka here on December 20, 2017, but played the only other T20 here, against South Africa on October 5, 2015.
Difficult track
He made 1 and was run out on the first ball following a communications failure with Rohit Sharma after which he couldn’t beat Chris Morris’s throw from the deep.
On a difficult track and in a game marred by crowd interruptions, South Africa won by six wickets after dismissing India for 92. One year earlier, in 2014, Kohli made 22—his highest here and it came off 21 balls—against Sri Lanka.
Having waited till the 38th over to bat because Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan hit centuries and because Suresh Raina batted at No 3, Kohli fell in the 46th over trying to pull Suraj Randiv.
A wet outfield led to the ODI against Australia in 2013 being abandoned without a ball being bowled and the only other game Kohli played here was an ODI against West Indies on November 29, 2011.
He made 3 before being bowled by Kemar Roach in the innings’ seventh over, the ball slipping through the gap between his bat and pad.
Winning run
India, who have not lost an ODI here since 2003 when New Zealand beat them, won by one wicket because Rohit Sharma, then a middle-order bat, glued the 212-run chase with a 99-ball 72. Sharma was helped by Ravindra Jadeja who made 38. Kieron Pollard is the only connection between the team West Indies fielded in 2014 and the one that has tied the series 1-1.
