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If Virati Kohli ‘batted out of his skins’ against Sri Lanka last month, he can only have batted out of his flesh against Pakistan yesterday, hitting 183 off 148 balls as India chased down 330. There can only be skellington left.
But set Kohli another steep run-chase and you wouldn’t bet against him batting out of his skeleton too. Not sure where he would go from there. Guess he would have ascended to being some sort of higher level being made of gas. Either that or just a useless pile of bone marrow.
But until that happens, let’s just revel in Kohli’s run-chasing. Challenging targets seem to give him permission to go into gears he otherwise wouldn’t use and the remarkable thing is that he can stay in them without knacking up his engine.
Commentators often say that Twenty20 run-rates have encouraged batsmen to believe they can chase anything. Belief’s great, but it’s barely a start. People believe in all sorts of stupid crap. The difference for Virat Kohli is that his belief is being justified.
For Kohli, it’s not like belief in a god; it’s like belief in the postman. If you ask someone whether they believe in the postman, you’re the one who sounds mental and that’s how it is with Kohli’s run-chasing. Of course he thinks he can get there. Why wouldn’t he?
There is a lot of talk about mindsets and all that. It is important but the right mindset comes from knowing you have the ability. You can fake it for a while, but real confidence comes from knowing you can do the job under any given circumstance.
You can get that confidence from practising in the right way, but it’s in the middle where you really need to do it; otherwise the whole thing is pointless.
Kohli knows he can.
Skellington. Love it.
That is a Richard Dawkins like simile. It is only a matter of time before KC is similarly parodied on South Park.
Its a wonder how India have transformed from a side which used to be terrible at chasing to one that believes it can chase down anything (which give their present bowling) will always be 300 plus. And the occasion seems to bring out the best in them- for example chasing 270+ in a world cup final before a home crowd should have been just about impossible, but they did it with elan….
Does not make him less of a twat. Or an ill-mannered brat.
Oh Rahul (sniff).
And once again he has to sit and watch a Sri Lankan game to see whether his efforts are good enough to get India into the final. What an effort though against Ajmal, Gul and Afridi, some of the best ODI bowlers around
They don’t really call him The Postman, do they?
Do they?
Not yet…
Wikipedia tells me that the hematopoietic compartment of bone marrow produces approximately 500 billion blood cells per day, which use the bone marrow vasculature as a conduit to the body’s systemic circulation. Hardly a useless pile. I am surprised you didn’t know this.
Still not sure it serves much purpose in isolation.
Okay, imagine this. Sachin Tendulkar falls cheaply. Opposition thinks they have the game sealed. Much to their surprise, the next “batsman” that walks in is a huge pile of marrow, with a surrounding sheet of blood circulating from nowhere to nowhere. The scorecard says the No. 3 is “Virat Kohli 2.0”. The first ball is dispatched into the stands of the Melbourne stadium. People are stunned because the match takes place in Hyderabad.
NOW tell me it’s useless.
We will do no such thing. We will instead concede the argument.
A friend of ours sucked the marrow out of a discarded lamb bone left on a girl’s plate during a first date. They’re married now.
dislike the guy but there is little doubt about it, he is a pretty good batsman. some of his strokeplay is borderline genius.
The big problem with Kohli is that he is an utter pillock, and I get confused when people I don’t like are also good at cricket.
…likewise when people I do like turn out to be pants at cricket.
Good point, Micko.
“the next “batsman” that walks in is a huge pile of marrow”
Looks like this scared the Sri Lankans. They have decided to gift the match to Bangladesh.