Century proves mental scars of 2014 have healed

BIRMINGHAM:A day before the Edgbaston Test, Virat Kohli declared he had nothing to prove anywhere. Having amassed runs in tough conditions across venues and countries, the India skipper had a point. Still, it is impossible the combative player that he is, one little detail was not ringing in his ear.

In 2011, after his Test debut as a hugely talented youngster in the West Indies fell below expectations as he was exposed against pace and bounce, he was not included for the England tour that followed. It proved a disaster with the seniors from a golden age unable to stop a 0-4 loss.

Four years on, Kohli had the opportunity to ace the England test, something batsmen of the calibre of Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid had achieved to be regarded among the all-time greats in the game.

But James Anderson led the way for England as Kohli’s frailties against swing and seam were exposed in conditions and he managed to score only 134 runs in 10 innings, left hurting with an average of 13.4 repeatedly highlighted since then.

On Thursday, the second day of the Edgbaston Test, Kohli walked in as the England pacers were in the middle of a sensational show of swing and seam bowling. Openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan had survived the new ball test from Anderson and Stuart Broad, but Sam Curran’s swing had rocked the top order.

Anderson, who celebrated his 36th birthday two days before the Test, still showed he was a proud bowler, and potent in home conditions. An epic battle followed as Kohli faced 43 deliveries from him in his first two spells either side of lunch. There were 41 dot balls, two runs off one delivery, and an edged four off another.

It proved an absolute thriller as commentators and thousands of spectators were glued to the rivetting action. Kohli first proved one thing. There were no mental scars from 2014.

He then showed his maturity. Yes, he was dropped by Dawid Malan at second slip on 21, and again by the same fielder off Ben Stokes the delivery after he got to fifty. But his focus got more steely as wickets tumbled at the other end.

He had the captain’s job to do as well. Kohli’s tendency has been to reach out to deliveries outside off-stump. At Edgbaston, Anderson kept that line outside off in the hope of tempting Kohli. But he kept leaving.

Kohli was so disciplined outside off, and England knew anything fed to his body would be put away on a slow pitch. The wait was on, but with Kohli not showing any tendency to poke outside off, even the dropped catch seemed a result of the fielder driven to distraction.

India’s other batsmen didn’t back their skipper enough against brilliant swing bowling on a pitch that was nowhere as lethal as typical English conditions. Shots flowed from Kohli’s bat once the ball got older and Anderson began tiring.

England would rue sloppy catching, but Kohli knows he has ticked that one box.