VIRAT IS THE MASTER OF INDIA’S SUCCESSFUL CHASES
The key to the Delhi batman’s great run in the shorter version is his cautious approach at the start followed by explosive finishing at the end.
Virat Kolhi is the master of the chase. The Delhi Dasher has the best record while helping India track down huge totals in one day internationals. A classic example of this would be Kohli’s 52-ball century against Australia in Jaipur last year, which helped India chase down a score of 360. This knock was also the fastest century by an Indian batsman in ODIs.
That the Jaipur knock was no fluke was proven when Kohli anchored India to a couple of other wins in big total chases. The most recent being in the ongoing Asia Cup where he scored a quickfire 136, which helped India beat Bangladesh.
It is a common saying in international players that nowadays when you have someone like Virat no total against India is safe. What must be sending shivers down the spine of rival bowlers is that Virat has already scored 19 ODI tons. The rate at which he is scoring is even better than the great Sachin Tendulkar.
Kohli averages a mind-boggling 62.77 in chases, which is the highest for any batsman who has played at least 25 innings. Even Dale Steyn, the world’s most feared bowler, has gone on record saying that he was uncomfortable at the prospect of bowling to Virat.
The Sunday Guardian has spoken to some experts and attempted to study Virat’s style of pacing himself in an ODI. A breakdown of his innings shows that he is cautious at the start and goes on gaining momentum and ends up as a deadly finisher.
As Kohli’s longtime coach Raj Kumar Sharma said, “A look at the way he goes about his first 10 overs reveals a predictable feature. He (Virat) has a template for building and finishing his knocks. Normally one would expect him off to a flying start. But he prefers to be slow and watchful.
Sharma’s claim is backed by figures. His scoring rate at end of the first ten overs is 63.8% — which also happens to be his slowest. During this period at the crease, he is usually content in playing himself in — 71% of the balls he faces are dots. He hits a boundary only once in 12.4 balls during this period. In the next 10 overs, his dot-ball percentage drops to 52%, but his boundary rate drops as well, possibly because of the lack of fielding restrictions.
In the next 10 overs, Kohli›s batting (from over no 21-30) gives us an insight into how careful he is in building an innings. This is the minimum risk period for him as he hits boundaries only once in 16.4 balls, the least through his innings, but still manages to score at 5.2 runs an over — he takes singles off 53% of the balls he faces in these overs.
No wonder then, Kohli has been dismissed on only 14 occasions between scores of 30 and 49 (14% of his total innings), which is the least, as compared to the other batsman who come in to bat at No 3.
It is the next 10 overs, Virat breaks free and is at his explosive best. He scores boundaries once every 7.3 balls. He is at his destructive best in the last 10 overs of his innings, when he scores boundaries off every 4.6 balls and only 31% of the deliveries are dot balls.
Given the caution Kohli exercises at the start of his innings, his strike rate of 81 between overs 11 and 30 does not place him at the very top among batsmen. However, Kohli still manages to be among the topten batsmen in this context. Considering that he has scored almost 500 runs more than the second batsman in the list, his scoring rate in these overs is certainly not a big disadvantage. Moreover, India have had bad starts (one down for less than 20) in 43 of the 93 matches since 2010, when Kohli has started batting at No. 3 or at No. 4, demanding a mature, riskfree start from the batsmen at the crease.
The last 20 overs of the innings are when Kohli makes amends for his comparatively slower starts. He turns into a decimator, finishing off the best of attacks with his incredible range of attacking shots. “In fact, it is this late surge that makes him such a deadly batsman,” said Kirti Azad a member of the 1983 World Cup winning team. “He has this amazing ability to turn around matches with his amazing hitting skills,” Azad added.