It wasn’t a sudden occurrence on a chilly, overcast evening in Hobart; it had been brewing in cricket for at least five years, particularly within the Indian team over the past few months. International T20 cricket had been around for six years, and batsmen were starting to find freedom in the longer formats. While there had been successful chases of 434 runs in 2006, total blowouts of 300-plus runs were still a rarity.
Virat Kohli’s Explosive Heroics
By that time, there had been 346 targets of 300 runs or more, out of which only 43 had been successfully chased down, and just one of those chases was completed in under 40 overs. Statistically, there was no compelling reason to abandon a conservative approach when batting first. However, it was clear that batsmen had acquired the skills to chase down substantial targets.
A beleaguered and frustrated Indian team found themselves in the right circumstances. Just a year earlier, they had won the ODI World Cup, but since then, they had been facing a series of defeats. A tour of England yielded no victories, with losses in four Tests, one T20I, and three ODIs. Their tour of Australia wasn’t much better, with a Test whitewash followed by a third-place finish in the ODI tri-series, leaving the team mentally drained.
Then, a glimmer of hope appeared. If they won their last match with a bonus point – meaning they needed to win inside 40 overs or restrict the opposition to 80% of their score – there was a remote chance they could make the finals and salvage something from the arduous tour.
Virat Kohli responded more aggressively than most. He refused to accept the fate that seemed preordained by the cricketing gods, even flipping off hecklers in Sydney and questioning why he was the sole focus of scrutiny in Perth. Despite the mental toll, he continued to fight on. In Adelaide, he became the only Indian centurion in the Test series.
When you are winning, you can stay on tour for five months, and you won’t mind a single day. But when you are not doing well as a team, it is really difficult to hold yourself together mentally… I won’t say I was not feeling mentally tired or mentally very sad sometimes, but there is no running away from it.
Kohli’s Explosive Transformation and the Pinnacle of Aggressive Batting
By the time this particular match arrived, Kohli had stopped discussing cricket with anyone. Traveling together for an extended period without achieving the desired results had taken its toll on the team’s morale. It was all the same – the same faces, the same training, and the same disappointing outcomes. Now, he and India just wanted to play with freedom, regardless of the results.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka had more to lose, so they played conservatively after being put in to bat by India, who had no option but to chase. Tillakaratne Dilshan, a modern limited-overs batsman, scored 160 at just under a run a ball, an unusual innings given that only five out of 141 innings of 150 runs or more ended with a strike rate of under 100.
However, India’s stalwarts decided to play as if there was no tomorrow. What followed was a remarkable chase. In a nearly empty stadium, the sound of bat striking ball echoed relentlessly. Virender Sehwag attacked Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara, Sachin Tendulkar unleashed his aggression, and Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir put together a 115-run partnership in 18.1 overs. Kohli and Suresh Raina added 120 runs in just 9.1 overs. Whenever a wicket fell, India responded with a boundary in the same over. It was a display of what was possible when batsmen played without fear.
At the heart of this extraordinary chase was Kohli, who had been intimidated by the pressure surrounding Test cricket to the point of deviating from his natural game. When there were calls for him to be dropped after a single failure in the Test series, Kohli reminded himself of the eight ODI centuries he had already scored. “It can’t be a fluke,” he said. In his favorite format, he showcased his talent to the world.
This match might have been the last time we witnessed Kohli in his unbridled, explosive form. He would go on to become a more refined, efficient run-machine with a neater appearance and a groomed beard.
Since then, there have been 62 successful chases of 300 or more runs, many of them comfortable, but none as emphatic and dominant as this one.
