Mental disintegration, Virat’s new ploy to conquer the world
AGGRESSION Virat Kohli’s formula while dominating opposition reflects Steve Waugh’s philosophy
mantra. When he took over as skipper during the 2014-15 Australia tour, Kohli too 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 ruthless 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. Dhawan 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