INDIA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA
'Superman' Kohli doesn't want the headlines
• Last updated on Sat, 17 Feb, 2018, 02:01 PM Kaushik Rangarajan in Centurion
Virat Kohli slammed his 35th ODI ton at Centurion , and the third of the series in the sixth game © BCCI
An internet meme had become quite popular on social media among South Africans in the early stages of the ODI series. It connected Virat Kohli and the now erstwhile South African president Jacob Zuma. There were different variants in terms of the graphics used but they all ended with the same punchline: "South Africa can't dismiss either."
As it turned out, South Africa actually had Zuma removed on February 14 and two days later, Kohli walked off from SuperSport Park with an unbeaten century - his 35th in ODIs - with a 5-1 series win and a couple more trophies for his mantelpiece.
Kohli's 129 in the series finale gave him a scarcely believable series tally of 558 runs at a humble average of 186, the highest aggregate in a bilateral series. By the end of the innings, in which he'd struck 19 fours and showboated two sixes at the end, pockets had been turned out, drawers rifled through. But fresh superlatives to describe his ODI batting genius remained in severe short supply. Ravi Shastri said if it were up to him, he would visit a bookstore and pick up the Oxford dictionary to awkward laughter.
No attempts at humour, silly or otherwise, will do justice to the level of batting Kohli scaled on this tour. In fact, since his double failure in the Cape Town Test defeat at the start of the tour, he hit an imperious 153 at this very venue and then proceeded to play two gems worth 54 and 41 on a spiteful Wanderers track. Then came the ODIs, the Indian captain approached his batting in a semi-meditative state, opting to practice in the nets only twice - before the first ODI in Durban and then before Cape Town - at the only venue he failed in the Tests. That he still cantered his way to a record tally was a testament to his mental strength and powers of visualisation as much as it was to his being in a very deep shade of purple patch.
"I obviously didn't have much time to prepare because I was doing something very important, I was getting married. So three weeks I was totally away from the game, but at the back of my mind there was always this motivation that I just want to be in South Africa. It's embracing being in a difficult situation and that's all we speak about in the change room as well," Kohli said in an otherwise brusque press conference after the series win.
"When things are hostile and when thing are not going your way, you want to go out there in the middle rather than getting extra sleep in the room. It is a very small change of thought but that makes a massive difference because when you go out there, you either want to take up the challenge or you don't and that can only come from here.
"The power of the mind is much greater than practicing hours in the nets. You might practice for two months but if you are not game ready before the game you are going to look like a fool. I rather focus here a lot because I understand that we play so much cricket that you don't necessarily need to go into the nets for hours and hours every day but you would rather tune your head and things can happen on the field which even you don't expect because you just want to be in the battle and deliver for your team. Come what may, in any situation, you just want to be out there and help the team win games. That's always been my mindset and that's actually even my strength as well," he added.
One of the more incredible things about Kohli batting in an ODI is how rarely he disappoints. Batting on 62 in Centurion, moments after creaming a drive off Andile Phehlukwayo through extra cover, Kohli played a low-percentage cut shot to a ball that bounced more and wasn't quite there for the cut. He was beaten. He gave a smile, walked towards the square-leg umpire, muttering away to himself having played so loosely. When he played Phehlukwayo in the next over, he traded the wild slash for timing and picked up two more boundaries with minimal fuss. It is the sheer stupidness of his talent that the simpler virtues of routine and basics aren't spoken of.
In this series, the Indian captain has added a dash of red - a wrist band, an inner t-shirt - to his blue limited-overs ensemble. That coupled with all the runs he scored may have contributed to the 'Superman' comparisons that some of the placards at SuperSport Park seemed to call him. Shastri was bull-headed that his captain was the best batsman in the world. "I've seen him batting across all conditions, in all formats. And it's not just averages, it's the way you get runs, when you get it, and the impact those runs have on what the team does. I would simply say he's the best batsman in the world now," Shastri declared.
But Kohli, who is more Clark Kent than Superman in press conferences, remained unwilling to buy into tags. Weirdly enough, despite a stellar show on an individual and a collective front, he seemed fixated on revisiting wounds from the Centurion past where India dropped the Test series a month ago. Then the defeat had hurt and the reportage clearly irked and today seemed a good day to settle some scores.
"Look as I said, I'm not going to give in to this. I know for a fact that 90 percent of the people didn't give us a chance after two Tests. I was sitting in the same room giving a press conference. So we understand where we've come from. I'm not going to live in a dream land right now and accept all the praise and sit here and feel good about this, because it doesn't matter to me. Honestly it doesn't.
"At this stage, I don't feel like competing with anyone. It is all about how I prepare before the game and what my work ethics are and how I am feeling on game day and my only motivation is to get into that frame of mind. I am not competing with anyone at all. If anything, I only look to help my team in any way I can. And during the course of that, I have mentioned that if you are thinking about the team, special things happen.
"I don't want any tags, I don't want any headlines, I just go out there and do my job, it is upto the people to write what they write, I don't want to be called anything, its my job, I am supposed to do what I am doing and I am not doing anyone a favour as I said, so just want t be in this zone of working as hard as I can and trying to do the best for the team. Everyone is doing a job, they have the freedom to write and say what they want but its very important that I don't change with that because my zone is very simple, it is simply doing hard work and performing for the team."
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INDIA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA, 2017-18
New-look South Africa hope for fresh start
Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on Sat, 17 Feb, 2018, 06:50 PM
The onus will be on Duminy to turn things around as he leads the South African side in the three-match T20I series © Getty
These are testing times for South Africa in white-ball cricket. After being given a reality check by India, who beat them comfortably to register a 5-1 ODI series win, the focus now shifts to the three-match T20I series, starting on Sunday (February 18) at the Bullring in Johannesburg.
With Test regulars like Hashim Amla and the stand-in ODI captain Aiden Markram being rested - keeping in mind the upcoming Test series against Australia, the selectors decided to hand over the captaincy to experienced middle-order batsman JP Duminy.
That call was taken after it was confirmed that Faf du Plessis - the regular T20I captain - will miss the series and is still recovering from the finger injury he suffered in the ODI series. With the mood and morale low at the moment, it is imperative for Duminy and Co. to raise the spirit in the camp and the infusion of a few fresh faces is certainly a step in that direction.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Duminy touched upon a variety of topics beginning with the new faces who will bring fresh energy to the camp even as he admitted that India were dominant in the ODI series. "I think the new faces will help," he said. "Something that we spoke about this morning is that we will feed off the freshness of new faces around. Yes, it has been a dismal one-day series for us where India have outplayed us and that's something that we will have to take on the chin and understanding for us and realisation for us that we are from a finished article going into the world cup a year from now.
"I think it's a great reality check for us and it's about each and every player seeing themselves in the mirror and how they can improve, to try and stake a claim for that 15-man squad in a year's time. But again the focus is on the T20 series and I am excited to be able to lead. I think leadership brings out the best in me and I enjoy the experience of leading people. I am quite excited by it."
Stating that there was no extra pressure to win the T20I series after the drubbing in the ODIs, he said that the team goes out with the intention to win every series they play in. "I think from a public perspective that is the outlook, but for us as players you want to win every series in which you represent your country," Duminy said. "There is no preference to be honest with you. T20 cricket will be looked as a format where you can give guys opportunities. In saying that it's still an opportunity to represent the country and no different in representing across ODIs, T20 or Tests for that matter. So there are a lot of new faces and guys making their debuts and new into the squad. It's a great occasion for the squad and the guys."
There has been lot of talk with regards to the pitches right from the Test series with the ones prepared for the ODIs. India's spin dup of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal picked up 33 wickets in the six-match series to hurt the hosts and run riot. But Duminy didn't agree that the pitches favoured India, instead he brought out the point - that wrist spinners get more out of the pitch than finger-spinners.
"One would think so, but in saying that the type of spinners India have, they will get the purchase out of surfaces no matter what the groundsmen produces," Duminy pointed out. "Wristspinners generally get more turn than what finger-spinners produce so you are going to have to see how it pans out. But definitely in this format you will see more aggressive approach so we will see how it works out in our favour."
When the topic moved on to the Indian captain Virat Kohli and how the hosts plan to get him out after he finished with 558 runs in six innings - the most by any batsman in a bilateral series - Duminy spoke about needing an "aggressive mindset" and went on to say that his team had some plans up their sleeve for Kohli.
"With an aggressive mindset. The plan is not only to contain them but to try and get them out especially in this format. Your aim is always going to be to try and take wickets. Wickets will reduce the runs on board and with that mindset have good plans in place and hopefully it works out for us."
Duminy also threw his weight behind AB de Villiers who had an underwhelming ODI series and was hopeful of the big man firing in the T20Is. "I think the standard he sets for himself is high," Duminy said. "He prides himself on his performances and he will no doubt be hungry to put in a big performance for the team. So I expect nothing less from him as much as he expects nothing less from himself. So let's see what he can produce."
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INDIA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA, 2018
Statistical highlights: India's emphatic ODI run in South Africa
Deepu Narayanan • Last updated on Sat, 17 Feb, 2018, 05:46 PM
India's top three set unprecedented heights with a staggering show in the six-match ODI series in South Africa. © BCCI
After a Test series for the ages, the ODI series which promised to be a humdinger turned out to be a damp squib as it was a one-way traffic bar a minor diversion in the Johannesburg ODI. India were deservedly the winners and on the back of the 5-1 win result they wrested the number one position from the hosts South Africa in ICC rankings. It was India's ninth successive bilateral series win and only the mighty Windies of the 1980s are ahead of them with 14 consecutive wins. Virat Kohli's purple patch saw an extended run while it was the coming of age series for India's new boy wonders Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Here are five talking points from the series.
Top three domination
The series began with two of the best top three in the world pitted against each other - Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli against Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis. After two weeks and six ODIs, only one of them could stand up to the challenges while the other just capitulated. It did no good to the hosts when de Kock and du Plessis were ruled out after the first two ODIs with injuries. Amla's wretched run against India continued as he averaged only 25.66 in the series with a solitary fifty. His tally of 154 runs in the series was the highest for South Africa and that captured their team's woeful performance with the bat.
In comparison, there were hundreds from one of India's top three in five of the six innings missing out only in the second ODI where the target was only 119. The trio scored 76.33% of India's runs off the bat in the whole series making it the fourth highest contribution from the top three in a bilateral series of five or more ODIs. Out of the 17 times an Indian batsman went past 20, nine times they crossed 50, converting five of them to hundreds. On the other hand, the South African players could score fifty-plus only four out of the 27 times they went past 20. Aiden Markram was the prime example of failure to convert starts, reaching 20 four times in six innings but failed to go past 32.
Highest percentage contribution by the top three in a bilateral series
For Against Host Season Matches Runs by top 3 Percentage (Runs) Percentage (Balls) Pak SL Pak 1991/92 5 850 81.57 86.78 WI Ind Ind 1983/84 5 777 77.08 79.58 WI Ind WI 1987/88 5 794 76.42 76.06 Ind SA SA 2017/18 6 1051 76.33 72.26
Kohli in a league of his own
Kohli started the series with a score to settle in South Africa as it was the only nation where he hadn't registered an ODI century. After the end of the series, he has the joint most hundreds by any player against the home team in South Africa, sitting alongside Kevin Pietersen with three each. He ended the series at a scarcely believable tally of 558 runs from six innings - the most ever by a player in a bilateral series of any length. Such was his dominance in the series that no bowler could dismiss him for a score less than 75.
The gap between him and the rest was so much that only Dhawan (323 runs) managed to score more than one-third of Kohli's aggregate in the series. The top four leading run-getters for South Africa in the series managed only 511 runs between them, 47 less than Kohli's tally which underlines his rich vein of form. He also became the first Indian batsman to score three centuries in a bilateral series.
Most runs in a bilateral series
Player Against Host Season Inngs Runs Avg SR 100s Virat Kohli SA SA 2017/18 6 558 186.00 99.46 3 Rohit Sharma Aus Ind 2013/14 6 491 122.75 108.62 2 George Bailey Ind Ind 2013/14 6 478 95.60 116.01 1 H Masakadza Ken Zim 2009/10 5 467 116.75 97.29 2 Chris Gayle Ind Ind 2002/03 7 455 65.00 94.98 3
Spin twins
After a reversal of fortunes in the finals of Champions Trophy, India's think-tank decided to invest heavily in wrist spin over finger spin. The experienced duo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja was seamlessly replaced by Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav and the pair had a decent run in the home season against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. But the real Test for them awaited as how they would perform in less friendly conditions outside the subcontinent and at the end of South African odyssey, they came out with flying colours after their first tough assignment.
The duo shared 33 wickets between them which is the most by any pair of spinners in a series or tournament of any length in the history of ODI cricket. Kuldeep picked 17 scalps in the series at 13.88 while Chahal, who became the first wrist spinner to get a five-fer in ODIs in South Africa, ended with 16 wickets to his name at 16.37 apiece. The duo turned the match in India's favour barring the rain-affected ODI in Johannesburg, with combined figures of 25 wickets in 85.2 overs in the middle overs (excluding the fourth ODI).
Most wickets by a spin pair in a series/ tournament
Player 1 Player 2 Total wkts Avg SR ER Series/Tournament Kuldeep Yadav (17) Yuzuvendra Chahal (16) 33 15.09 18.8 4.83 India in South Africa, 2018 M Muralitharan (16) Malinga Bandara (14) 30 29.47 35.1 5.01 VB tri series, Aus, 2006 Robin Peterson (15) Imran Tahir (14) 29 13.38 19.8 4.06 ICC World Cup, 2011 Ajanta Mendis (17) M Muralitharan (11) 28 11.75 19.3 3.66 Asia Cup, 2008 Saqlain Muhtaq (17) Shahid Afridi (11) 28 21.75 33.2 3.93 C & U tri series, Aus, 1996/97
India's best series outside Asia
South Africa was one country where the Asian batsman would dread to bat because of the bounce and seam movement on offer. India averaged just above 25 in South Africa at the start of the series, the lowest for them in any host nation and the highest average for them against the hosts in any series there was 25.62. The fortunes got reversed this time as they averaged 51 in the series including five hundreds (they previously had four hundreds against the hosts in South Africa). The difference of 28.17 between batting and bowling averages for India is the best for them in a bilateral series of two or more ODIs outside Asia (excluding Zimbabwe). It was little surprise in the end that this was the first instance of India winning an ODI series in South Africa.
India's bilateral series in SA
Season Mat Bat Avg Bowl Avg Diff Series result Captain 1992/93 7 22.77 47.66 -24.88 Lost 2-5 M Azharuddin 2006/07 4 15.10 50.26 -35.16 Lost 0-4 Rahul Dravid 2010/11 5 20.36 32.18 -11.82 Lost 2-3 MS Dhoni 2013/14 3 16.00 54.82 -38.82 Lost 0-2 MS Dhoni 2017/18 6 51.00 22.82 28.17 Won 5-1 Virat Kohli
South Africa's worst home series
While almost everything that they tried went right for India, this was a series that South Africa would like to forget quickly. Little went right for them and the injuries to key players added to their misery. They started the series with their best batsman AB de Villiers ruled out for the first half of the series and lost de Kock and du Plessis by the time de Villiers returned. Young Markram was thrust upon with captaincy, with an experience of just two ODI caps. The result was a 1-5 loss - the second time they lost five matches in a home series and first since the loss by the same margin against Ricky Ponting's Australia in 2002.
The home team averaged 21.6 with the bat which is the worst for them in a bilateral series at home. Likewise, their bowling average of 62.17 was by far their worst performance in a home rubber. The spinners of the home side were no match to Chahal and Kuldeep and managed just three wickets between them at 128, two of them by part timer JP Duminy. The ratio of 8.04 between spinners of either sides is the fourth highest ever in a bilateral series when both sides have bowled at least 40 overs each of spin.
Highest difference between averages for SA in a bilateral home series
Against Season Mat Bat Avg Bowl Avg Diff Series result Ind 2017/18 6 21.60 62.17 40.57 Lost 1-5 NZ 2007/08 3 30.50 52.46 21.96 Won 2-1 Eng 2009/10 3 27.76 38.06 10.30 Lost 1-2 NZ 2012/13 3 23.82 31.30 7.47 Lost 1-2 Aus 2001/02 7 31.60 37.78 6.17 Lost 1-5
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INDIA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA, 2018
Kohli's confidence is astonishing, his batting even more so
Sagar Chawla • Last updated on Sat, 17 Feb, 2018, 01:46 AM
Kohli's moves are either successes, or they're things of the past © AFP
Virat Kohli slumps over with his hands on the knees as he gasps for air. He's been hit on the ribs by a fierce short delivery from Kagiso Rabada. It's not a crippling blow though. Certainly not something which will shake Kohli's confidence up. He's broadening his shoulders again, getting back into stance. Next one's another short ball, and it's been sent soaring over fine leg. This is ODI cricket. It is Kohli's yard.
When he's not busy looking furious at Rohit Sharma for running him out, Kohli is scoring runs in ODIs. He has scored 558 runs at an average of 186.00 to lead India to their maiden series win in South Africa. This is the most runs by any player in a bilateral ODI series ever. His batting has reached heights which very few can comprehend, let alone scale. The energy hasn't diminished one bit from his younger days. It's all running for Kohli. And it's not only restricted to ODIs, the same applies to all formats.
***
Even with the barrier of a TV screen, the bubble of energy surrounding Kohli - in whatever he's doing - is quite tangible. If you live in the vicinity of an India game, you could probably hear him roar upon opening the window. There are many captains who prefer to maintain a stoic appearance so that they don't give much away. Kohli is not one of them.
He even goes a step further as he proceeds to goad the opposition. He will celebrate right in the faces of dismissed batsmen. He will sledge the incoming ones. At times, he will be disgruntled with umpires, match-referees, his teammates, himself. Then at other times, he will giggle along with them. This is a man with perhaps the most scrutinized job in world cricket. But you wouldn't be able to tell looking at him, because if there's one thing which defines Kohli, it's how he backs himself to do almost anything, which he has time and again shown on this tour.
Make what you will of his infamous boast to Murali Vijay of batting until evening, or his non-stop chatter with Hardik Pandya to help with the reverse-swing, Kohli was so sure about himself that he genuinely looked more focused about what was happening at the other end.
His confidence is not always well-placed of course. Sometimes it's baffling how he overlooks, or worse, denies pretty obvious things. But Kohli is stubborn like that. The pitch at Centurion was uncharacteristically sluggish for the second Test. India felt the need for a close-in slip fielder even with pacers bowling. Now, Kohli's record at normal slips itself is poor. This is close-in slip, which is at least five yards closer than normal. The difficulty is ramped up many notches. So guess who he eventually chose for the role with a helmet on? That's right.
That's what Kohli does. He goes out of his way to be conspicuous about not admitting weakness. It was the same with Ajinkya Rahane's exclusion too. The Indian captain was so difficult about it. He sledged reporters who dared raise question marks. He bent them into submission. Kohli's moves are either successes, or they're things of the past.
International cricket is a hard grind. It's barely logical to invite more pressure than there already is. Why rebuff reporters questioning team-selections? Why banter with hostile overseas crowds? Why get under the opponent's skin, to such an extent that they're desperate to give you a receipt?
Now this is the part where it gets very good, and which explains his confidence. It's the part where Kohli has a bat in hand. He's made for the grind.
***
There's often a list of dos and don'ts that a bowler has while planning for a batsman. In limited-overs cricket, that list is mostly reduced to a bunch of don'ts in order to restrict run-scoring. The don'ts against Kohli go something like this: don't bowl short - he'll pull, don't bowl wide - he now plays the cut more often, don't bowl for the drive - he'll nail it, don't bowl anything starting from the inside of off-stump - you'll be flicked off the face of the earth, don't bowl spin - he'll milk it, don't bowl. DON'T BOWL.
There are stages in ODIs where most players use release shots to counter the growing pressure. These shots are fraught with risk. Kohli doesn't do risks. He doesn't have release shots, he has wrists. He hardly plays the slog-sweep, although he did play one in the final ODI because he was bored of the series. He hardly hits the ball in the air - which lends to his unprecedented levels of consistency. And he still has the capability to score so freely.
"Today I was feeling really good. Just decided to start timing the ball," is what he said after his third hundred of the ODI series to seal it 5-1. That's all he does. He times the ball. It's very easy. But for that, you'll have to be Kohli.
In Test matches, there's known to be a sixth stump corridor that teams have targetted against Kohli in seaming conditions, as England advertised in 2014. There was this uncontrollable urge which he had to hang his bat out to dry. Of course, this weakness could only be exploited in certain conditions which are hard to find in most corners. The Wanderers Test, however, showed that Kohli has come a long way from 2014. The Bullring had turned into a snake-pit, and it was here that Kohli's confidence joined hands with his skill-set to create magic. India's decision at the toss initially baffled, and later astonished, as Kohli went on to play a couple of innings which he had no right of playing under such hostility. Those knocks might have only been worth 54 and 41, but the extent to which he reduced the luck factor through his control, it was incredible. He was so far ahead on the curve that he could come from behind and lap everyone else.
Pundits try to science their way into decoding Kohli's success. His head is on top of the ball. His feet are decisively forward and back. His balance is serene. All this is undeniably true, but it can't be taught. It's natural genius. The technique is infallible, with his bowled-percentage standing at a staggeringly low 8.5%. There's no one else, barring Steve Smith probably, who misses the flick shot as little as he does. He has it all figured out.
What might yet be the best part of Kohli's batting, of course, are its aesthetics. A Virat Kohli cover-drive is as pure as a moonlit vent in a marble temple. Thousands throng stadiums to be cleansed by it. In an era of dwindling audiences, it's the drawing power of players like Kohli that helps the game stay on rails.
***
It has been unbelievable from the Indian captain in South Africa. The T20Is are still to be played, but nothing that happens in them can take anything away from what has been Kohli's tour. On the odd occasion, that urge to poke outside off stump has relapsed for him, and England must have watched it closely. But Kohli will cross that bridge when he gets there. And then he'll back himself like he always does.
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