This day that year: The pieces of commentary that painted Virat Kohli
Most people dislike Michael Slater. Some say he is a bit too immature. But on that day, with Virat Kohli batting at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali, his booming voice was at its best.
"Kohli advances. He goes in the air, there is long-off—BUT HE CAN ONLY WATCH IT GO OVER HIS HEAD!!! WOW!"
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Sticky beginning
The 2016 World T20. Hosts, India, were taking on Australia in a high-voltage encounter with all to play for. The Men in Blue had been so terrible in that tournament till then that a group-stage win against Bangladesh in a home World Cup had become a matter of unparalleled celebration.
It was so unexpected that Australia and India would be virtual quarter-finalists, going to war on a very sluggish Mohali wicket. All so similar to their last home ICC event. But at 24-1 with Rohit Sharma struggling, they could barely see the finishing line.
Into the groove
Virat Kohli. The second ball he faces is a mess—half-volley on leg stump. He cleans it up with an innocuous-looking dab through the leg side leaving Hazelwood harried, getting off the mark with a boundary.
Nasser Hussain on air says, "Whips it away, whips it away! With such style and graze."
Next ball, Kohli unveils a special. Square drive past Steve Smith inside the circle, playing away from his body with brilliant hand-eye coordination and footwork. Smith lies on the ground, flabbergasted. 8 not out off 3.
"Oh, hit away! Hit away! That'll be another boundary. That's a Kohli special."
His next boundary comes in the twelfth over with India at 69-3. He is now rebuilding the innings. Kohli steps out to a 96 kph Maxwell delivery but isn't close to its pitch, and yet goes through with the shot, one-legged. There is long-off in place, and 'catch it', is the cry. But the ball goes just over the fielder.
Sanjay Manjrekar blares, "Has he timed this well enough? Yes, he has!"
Dhoni is soon at the crease. India are into the sixteenth over, and need 55 to win. Kohli maintains a closed stance against the left-arm around the wicket angle of Coulter Nile, jogs down the track and goes between midwicket and long-on.
Manjrekar: "The bottom haaaand of Virat Kohli! Gets a boundary." You can feel the tension in his voice.
And then, Michael Slater comes on air.
"He swats that to the man in the deep, and 50 for Kohli. The fifty won't mean anything if India lose. He is brilliant in a run-chase, but it's not over", he says, against a man in the screen who's fighting with the umpire for a one-for-the-over call. Watson is bowling the over, and there are three doubles in the next three balls. MS and Kohli are running like they're chasing a terrorist. Three overs remain, and India need 39.
India have been in the knockout stage of a T20 World Cup only twice before, but this time it's different. They're the number one ranked T20I side, and have come into this tournament as favourites. They're the reigning Asia Cup champions, and had whitewashed Australia in their home turf two months ago.
But now, this Mohali crowd is silent, and Australia are on top. 39 off 18 balls is manageable today, but on 26 March 2016, it was a Herculean task. Power hitting wasn't as much of a norm as it is today, and India were batting on a slow, sluggish wicket. If the crowds weren't enervated after the game against Bangladesh, they now were. There isn't any voice left in their throats, energy in their arms to wave their flag; there are instead droplets of tears collecting everywhere. All seemed lost.
And that, my friends, is when the assault began.
Faulkner is bowling from around the wicket, and Kohli has opened up his stance again. He is crouching low. The first ball is far from poor, good length on his waist—Kohli backs away making room, and whips it off to the left of deep square leg for four. "That'll be hard to stop. It is hard to stop!" Bottom handed. Horizontal batted.
17.2: Inch-perfect yorker on fourth stump, Kohli squeezes it to the right of square like a magician, with the thudding sound of bat hitting the turf and the ball at the same time. Symbolically, a pile of dust explodes out of the pitch. "He can play all the shots, look at that one!"
Mohali is chanting his name now. They've been so loud before only when one man's batting. A man Kohli's been compared to so often. Faulkner now bowls a slower ball from the back of the hand, deceives Kohli, and yet the ball goes over long-off for six. Slater goes crazy on the mic, like Tony Greig did for Tendulkar. In a space of three balls, Kohli has stolen Australia's game from their platter. In a space of three balls. 19 off that over.
The final assault
Coulter Nile's back, and the closed stance is back. He dishes out a perfect yorker on off stump, Kohli clears is front leg and booms a drive through the left of the cover fielder. "What about that? It's away! It's four!" The next ball goes over the head of the same fielder, as Kohli's bat follows through fully. "That could be the game!", echoes Slater. He has little idea that those words are going to embellish the finest T20I innings ever. The last ball he sends past the right of the same fielder again, and the bat completes its flow. "Ta-daaaaaa! Off to the man, but hit too hard!", his voice is numinous.
From being 20 off 20 at a stage, Kohli completed his innings of 82 not out from 52 balls on a sticky, spinning pitch, on which the next highest score from both sides was 43. No matter how many times you watch the highlight reel of that innings you will still feel the emotions first-hand. You will feel the agony, the hopelessness, the grimace which were replaced in less than three minutes by euphoria. That's what a Kohli innings can do in India.
Any number of parallels can be drawn with that knock. The Tendulkar Desert Storm when he toyed with the best bowler in the world, the iconic 58 by Yuvraj in the 2011 World Cup. But there's no denying the fact that four years ago, on this day, Kohli became the modern-day genius that we know him as. It was the day when Kohli became God in India, against backdrop of the the booming voice of Slater.