Virat Kohli hates getting out, he wants to wield his bat for the entire day, he wants to boss proceedings for the entire day and hence, he wants to minimise risks. He seldom takes the aerial route, he is more about placement, finding gaps, and caressing the ball all along the carpet. However, there was a different Kohli in the T20I series against West Indies. In the Test series, Kohli was the gentleman, the leader of his pack, and in many ways, the leader Test cricket needs at the moment. He advocated the different ways which could keep the longest format healthy, he was nuanced on the field, very apt in the pressers. It was all different in the T20Is – he was vocal, he was charged up, he was the brash young man who wanted to make his presence felt, and well, he adopted a different mode of operation.
Right through the series he was looking to belt sixes – he hit 12 boundaries and 13 sixes, a significant departure from his style of batting. And now, after having aced this test, he is back to his comfort zone, the ODIs and well, West Indies will be a worried team. He is the highest-scorer against West Indies in this format, he absolutely loves the boys from the Caribbean.
He has 19 scores of more than 50 against West Indies which is the most by any batsman against then. Also, he has peeled off nine centuries against the Calypso brigade, which is another record.
If we consider a sample size of five innings, Virat Kohli’s average of 76.64 against West Indies, is his best performance against any opposition. And, well, he is already the leading run-scorer in this format this year with 1288 runs. These are the numbers and then there is Virat Kohli, who seems to be in his zone, in his bubble of quiet, calm and ease when batting in limited-overs cricket. There might not be as many sixes, there might not be as many lofted strokes, but the master of this format will be rampant and he will be hungry to further bolster his record this year.
