Virat Kohli, the batter who stood up silently in T20Is

With his style of play, T20is in recent times have not been the format associated with Virat Kohli. Kohli though defied the odds that power-hitting is needed to find success in T20 Cricket. IPL success aside, International Cricket has had his showings, with Kohli proving that strike rate is not everything.

By the time Virat Kohli made his T20 debut, he was already starting to establish himself in ODIs. His IPL numbers were there but not the greatest by then with Virat Kohli getting little batting time up the order in a strong line-up. Kohli though, the batter who used to go cross-batted for everything had his breakthrough series quickly. Starting with the 2012 T20 World Cup, Virat Kohli proved his worth.

In each of the World Cups from 2012 to 2022, Virat Kohli played a defining innings against Pakistan. He announced himself in T20Is with a 78 against Pakistan back in 2012, in the T20 World Cup. His maturity grew as a batter and Virat Kohli, knowing that he is not a power-hitter, stuck to his strengths of timing the ball and running between the wickets.

He had some really rampant innings like his 70 off 29 in 2019, when Virat Kohli realized that timing and good cricketing shots is sufficient for him to score runs. With T20 World Cups though, Virat Kohli was a different beast. His performances went up a level with Virat Kohli leading the run-charts in 2014, 2016 and 2022. Virat Kohli was also India’s leading run getter in the 2012 edition, indicating how much he meant to the Indian Team.

For a decade, he carried the Indian batting line-up through T20 World Cups with some magnificent one-man shows. The 2014 World Cup saw it with Virat Kohli making 70s in both the Semi-Finals and Finals. the semis saw him carry the side through, and he had significant support from Suresh Raina that day. The Finals though had him stranded as Yuvraj Singh struggled against some magnificent death bowling from Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kuleskara, who took Sri Lanka to victory.

In 2016 as well, the chase master was at it again. He steadied the shift after early wickets against Pakistan, ran his heart out with MS Dhoni on his way the famous 82 at Mohali in a virtual qualifier and ran his heart out again at the Wankhede against the West Indies. His 89 in the Semis though went in vein yet again. Like in the 2014 Finals, 2016 had Virat Kohli carry the side with minimal support.

2022 was pretty similar for that matter. It was Virat Kohli who dug India out of trouble against Pakistan and took them home. The game was far from them until that over against Haris Rauf as Virat Kohli played possibly his greatest innings. What he did in 2014 though turned out to be a moment of criticism in 2022. He finished as the tournaments leading run-getter and was India’s best batter by far. The writing though was slowly starting to get on the wall. Post 2021, with T20Is shifting to a faster pace his style of anchoring and his slowdown against spin became an issue.

Virat Kohli, along with Rohit Sharma were phased out. India’s best player in T20 World Cups suddenly faced the prospect of missing out on the next edition. Kohli though found his way back and proved the selectors right with another prolific IPL season as Orange Cap Winner. He was top three on the sixers chart as well showing his ability to clear the fence and all was back to normal.

India’s best across formats was at it again. The struggle in the World Cup though raised questions. The player who carried India in T20 World Cups over the last decade, delivering in the big games was suddenly being carried through the tournament. The others delivered, he failed but persisted. Come the Finals though, Virat Kohli, in his own fashion delivered. His innings were met with criticism for being slow yet again as it had been many times. Virat Kohli though will know that after losing three wickets his innings were needed.

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In the end, it paid off. He delivered on the big stage, proving once more that he is a big-match performer. He added another big score in the knock-out stages of an ICC Event, and this time he had the support he needed. His strike-rate was in question again, but Virat Kohli, as he has done so many times, silently went about his business to help India get through.