Big hitters cut loose as Kohli almost rides to rescue
T20 has become predictable but personalities such as India captain and Buttler ensure the human theatre is never dull
Kohli is a born actor while Buttler says his lines and disappears from the stage
Neither volcano had erupted all winter. Neither India’s nor England’s most explosive batsman had lived up to his seismographic billing, until the third T20 of the series, when both Virat Kohli and Jos Buttler hit the opposing bowlers, their straps and their highest scores since Christmas.
Twenty20 cricket is becoming too predictable, especially at night in Asia: win the toss, field first, then knock off the target when the ball is skidding on. But Kohli’s batting was so power-packed – as volcanoes tend to be – that he threatened to break the mould, or at least make a game of it.
Kohli, while wickets fell at the other end, pushed the white ball around for 28 off 29 balls before exploding with 49 off the last 15 deliveries he faced.
He had pace to work with – amazing that there is nobody in this otherwise multi-talented England side who can bowl the most basic form of all spinning deliveries, the off-cutter – and he made the most of it by plundering the final overs of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Chris Jordan. These three, and Adil Rashid, had effectively won the game for England by keeping India to 24 for three in the powerplay.
Kohli hit four sixes, one off the leading edge, but his most jaw-dropping shot was a whip between deep midwicket and long-on, which was somehow hit on the up yet almost along the ground.
His wrists had been dormant – Kohli scored three ducks in four games at one stage of England’s tour – but they awoke in this game, and they hit the ball like hammer on anvil, not only his signature drive through extra cover, but on the leg side too.
Kohli and Buttler have more in common than wristiness and speed between wickets.
Both move around the crease to disrupt the bowler, yet they keep their head as still as possible, their
eyes level. And both, being athletes, have the flexibility to get under the ball as well as over it, which is so important when reverse-sweeping over the infield.
Whereas England, in the main, bowled length and back-of-a-length pace, India tried greater variety – using swing, then “pace-off ” cutters and spin – but nothing disconcerted Buttler, until he did not reversesweep over the infield, but found Kohli, who dropped it. If Kohli had caught it, he would have bettered Buttler by one, with 77 off 46 balls to Buttler’s 76 off 46 at that point.
Where the similarities between the two key men end, though, is when you compare their emotional responses. While Kohli demonstrates the full range, Buttler was his usual self, giving nothing away.
Every misfield by India cut Kohli to the quick, Buttler observed everything impassively.
No crowd was allowed to attend – why has Ahmedabad veered from packing the stands to emptying them, without anything in between? – but Kohli played to the gallery like the actor he was born to be. Buttler said his lines and disappeared from the stage, re-emerging to accept the player-of-the-match award with a quick bow.
This T20 format has become predictable and is in danger of becoming all the more so in the World T20 finals this autumn, as the dew will be more intense and influential after the monsoon. With such extremes of personality as Kohli and Buttler, however, the human theatre will never be dull.