From struggling in 2014 to a run-machine in 2016: A case of understanding Kohli's learning curve
Yesterday, England’s leading fast-bowler James Anderson made a comment on Virat Kohli that left many Indian cricket fans fuming with anger. Anderson, at a press conference, said that he didn’t think Kohli’s batting had “changed” and the slowness of Indian surfaces hid the flaws in Kohli’s batting.
Anderson commented,"I just think any technical deficiencies he's got aren't in play out here. The wickets just take that out of the equation.
"We had success against him in England, but the pace of the pitches over here just take any flaws he has out of the equation. There's not that pace in the wicket to get the nicks, like we did against him in England with a bit more movement. Pitches like this suit him down to the ground.”
The 34-year old pacer, however, did say that Kohli played the England spinners well, and showed a lot of patience.
"When that's not there, he's very much suited to playing in these conditions. He's a very good player of spin and if you're not bang on the money and don't take your chances, he'll punish you. We tried to stay patient against him, but he just waits and waits and waits. He just played really well."
A cursory view of Kohli’s numbers in England in 2014 as compared to this series will make you think that Anderson’s comments did make some sense. In 2014, Kohli struggled badly during the tour to England. The England quicks constantly annoyed Kohli by bowling a line just outside off-stump, moving the ball away and drawing Kohli into impatient strokes. Kohli averaged 13.40 in that series, and Anderson dismissed him on four occasions.
In the four Tests against England in the ongoing series, Kohli has averaged a whopping 128. If one looks at these numbers, Anderson might be right in saying that Kohli made the best use of the opportunity of batting in conditions that are suited to his style of play.
But there is an intrinsic issue with Anderson’s comments that some people might fail to look at. Rather than making the best use of helpful conditions, Kohli might have just quickened his ‘learning curve’ in the last two years.
Just like Kohli, in every individual’s professional life, there is a thing called the ‘learning curve’ which is the rate at which a person progresses in getting new skills and experiences. So India’s Test skipper possibly worked harder than most and became a much-improved cricketer in the two-year period. In fact after the debacle in England, Kohli himself mentioned that he still needed to grow as a cricketer and wanted to take his batting to the next level. And therefore, he worked hard in improving his game and hence speeded up his learning curve.
As a matter of fact, Virat was a much-improved cricketer a few months after the England tour when India went Down-Under. Australia is a place where the pitches are not slow and offer assistance to quicks, and in that series, Virat scored four hundreds, of which two of them came in one Test at Adelaide.
So when Anderson commented that Kohli’s batting hasn’t changed since 2014 and his performances are due to playing in favourable conditions, he might have missed a crucial factor of realising an important point about one’s learning curve. A case in point being that in 2014, Kohli looked impatient against the fast-bowlers, poking at balls outside the off stump. But in the recent series, he just waited and waited, playing the ball on merit and dispatching only the lose deliveries.
Also read: When a spectator was asked to represent his country - The story of Luke Pomersbach's bizarre debut
In fact, right after Kohli returned to India from the England tour, he was keen on working on his game and approached his idol Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai, who helped the Delhi cricketer make technical adjustments in his game. Kohli, in an interview with Michael Vaughan had talked about the role Tendulkar had in improving his game:
“I came back and went to Bombay for 10 days. I spoke to him. He spent time with me. He said he had watched me in England and he helped me with a few technical things that are important at this level in terms of getting a good stride in, always having intent when playing the ball and never being unsure of what to do at the crease.
"I never had a forward press but he told me you should go forward to a fast bowler like you would defend a spinner. Do it with the same conviction is the only way you can be in a good position to tackle, swing seam or anything you want.” he said.
Kohli comes from a breed of individuals who want to be the best in the world; so an improved game in just the span of two years is completely possible for him. As a matter of fact, Kohli is some who will not mind ‘overdoing’ training sessions, just to shorten the time it will take to rectify errors in his batting technique. In the same interview with Vaughan, Kohli has also mentioned,” I see a lot of guys batting in the nets, they want to hit 200-300 balls before the game. I feel I am ready and tend to overdo things because I am so desperate to do well so go away from my routine.”
Whether Anderson’s comments hold any virtue of truth will only be seen when Kohli visits England next year to play in the Champions Trophy. But don’t be surprised if Kohli manages to score runs consistently in that series, and Anderson comes out and comments that the pitches for limited over fixtures are prepared to assist the batsman.
For now, let’s not read much into the comments made by Anderson and relish the spectacular batting displays by the Indian Test skipper.
Watch: Kohli smashes a superb 169 vs Australia in 2014