After Virat Kohli’s sensational 124 off 108 balls – albeit in a losing cause – against New Zealand in the series decider in Indore on Sunday, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said the key to the Indian batter’s success is that ‘he’s not tied down to an image.’ “The thing about him is that he’s not tied down to an image.. A lot of batters, a lot of bowlers are tied down to an image. That this is the way, you know, they are perceived, and so they should stick to that. I don’t think it is tied down to an image. He’s tied down to the job at hand. The job at hand is to score runs, maybe watchfully to start with, and then open out, or score bang-bang at the start and then spread the field and then look for the ones and twos. He’s not tied down by any image, and that is the reason he is consistent,” Gavaskar said on JioHotstar after India’s series defeat. New Zealand batters Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips scored centuries in a devastating partnership to lay the platform for a 41-run win over India in their third one-day international (ODI) in Indore on Sunday, which sealed a comeback 2-1 series victory. A target of 337 left the hosts facing a daunting task, and they ran out of steam despite Kohli’s battling knock of 124. The veteran played another memorable ODI knock in a run-chase, something that he has mastered over the years. “Apart from his talent, of course, and temperament. And when I said not tied down by image, I talk about the temperament. Temperament not to say, “Oh, I’m expected to hit the six.” It’s not that. He will watch it and do it, and he never gives up. He refuses to give up,” Gavaskar added. So even till the end, he was trying that a little tired shot. Sometimes you know the gloves can get a bit sweaty, and so the grip on the handle would have gone a little bit awry. And that’s why, instead of going straight, the bad face turned up and he was caught inside the boundary. For me, this is the important thing to learn for any for any youngster, not to live up to an image, play the situation, and you will be more consistent than ever hoped for.” Former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull was in awe of a couple of Kohli’s shots in a knock that included 10 fours and three sixes. “New Zealand would have been nervous the whole time that he was there. He was the guy who could take the game away from them. and it looked like he was going to for a long period of it. It was a brilliant innings. He came in relatively early. He lost five different partners along the way before that partnership with Harshit Rana. I thought it was a good partnership with Harshit as well. But just some of the crisp clean hitting… the first boundary, I remember was the six, the pull shot. The crack off the bat was phenomenal. And the other one that I’ll bring up, I thought was the one just skimmed over extra cover’s head, maybe one bounce, I think, for four. Those are the signature Virat Kohli shot. But outside of that, how he manoeuvres the field, how he runs between the wickets,” Doull said. Doull also praised Kohli’s exemplary fitness. “There is just an air of youth about this guy despite his age and his experience. He would still be the fittest in that side, I would imagine. And that is professionalism. That is what it is all about to me. The ability to still try and win games to put your team in the contest when they’re so far behind, and the willingness to play that type of innings and run as hard as you do for your runs and for your mates’ runs. as well. There’s so much to love about how he’s playing at the moment and oh, may he stick around till he’s 44, 45.”
Virat Kohli is not tied down to one image: What Sunil Gavaskar had to say about star batter after 54th century
