Mental disintegration, Virat’s new ploy to conquer the world
AGGRESSION Virat Kohli’s formula while dominating opposition reflects Steve Waugh’s philosophy
DAMBULLA: The chief characteristic of Australia when they ruled worldcricket was how they kept the opposition down even when victory was a foregone conclusion. That attitude not just made the losing side feel Australia’s overwhelming superiority, it also demoralised them.
Former Aussie skipper Steve Waugh swore by“mental disintegration ”, an approach that told the opposition it would lose even before a ball was bowled in the game during over a decade from the mid-1990s.
Virat Kohli’s Indian team too have adopted aggression as their mantra. When he took over as skipper during the 2014-15 Australia tour, Kohlitoo declared the Aussie approach would be his model; when the opposition is down, keep it down. And the latest evidence of that attitude came in Sunday’s nine-wicket drubbing in the first ODI here.
Kohli spoke of building a unit that bought into his philosophy of playing aggressively. Although he had to temper that approach after losing the Galle Test in 2015, his first in a full tour, intent has remained the abiding factor.
India are some distance from being mentioned in the same breath as the great West Indies or Australian sides. They are the world No 1 Test side, and No 3 in the ODI rankings.
The next big step will be winning away from the sub-continent, and being seen as a force in England, Australia and South Africa. They are yet to win a Test series in two of those countries.
The team’ s ruth less streak was evident in the way Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli hammered the Sri Lanka bowling attack.
The ageing Lasith Malinga looked out of shape with his yorkers no longer carrying the old pace. D haw an acknowledged that helped him attack Malinga. Dhawan, who smashed an unbeaten 132– century off 71 balls was the fastest of his 11 centuries – and Kohli (82*) gave no respite. The pair hammered 142 of the team’s 220 runs in boundaries to finish with 21.1 overs left.
India had also been relentless while sweeping the Test series. The first two matches ended in four days while the visitors completed the rout by winning the final Test in Pallekele, venue of the next two ODIs on August 24 and 27, in three days.
Kohli has said India were trying to focus on areas they need to keep improving rather than the weak opposition. That has included a new focus on fitness.
K oh lil ed by example, producing a brilliant run out of Ch a mara Kapugedera. Kedar Jadhav’s superb catch in the deep got rid of Wanindu Hasaranga. India’s approach has only deepened the crisis in the Sri Lankan team.