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Smart thinking, consistent selections, and a wider range of go-to players have enabled the side to reach the top four

Shashank Kishore05-Nov-2020For Royal Challengers Bangalore, the summer of 2016 was special. Not that they won the IPL – they are yet to win despite making three finals – but because they came back from the brink. Having faced the threat of elimination at the halfway mark – with two wins in seven games – they won six out of their next seven to vault into the top two and progress into the final by beating table-toppers Gujarat Lions in Qualifier-1.That resurgence was sparked by the Royal Challengers’ captain Virat Kohli, who struck a record four centuries and 973 runs that season, with ample support from Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers. That season also marked the arrival of KL Rahul as a T20 batsman.Although the Royal Challengers lost by eight runs to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final, the 2016 run should have set the template for the franchise in future pursuits of the title. Instead Kohli’s teams would end up with two last-place finishes in the next three seasons.Along the way, the Royal Challengers replaced their long-standing coach Daniel Vettori with the pair of Gary Kirsten and Ashish Nehra, who were in charge for two seasons before being fired following the team;s bottom-place finish in 2019.Enter Mike Hesson and Simon Katich.”We spent a huge amount of time reviewing our performance last season, in the lead up to the auction,” Hesson said at his first media briefing last year, upon taking over as director of cricket, a role the Royal Challengers carved out in their quest to put in a structure, a word Kohli has used multiple times since.Hesson brought in the former Australia opener Katich as head coach. Katich, a straight talker, came with experience in the IPL as assistant coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, while Hesson had served as head coach for a season with Kings XI Punjab. Both men understood the challenge they were undertaking – taking charge of a franchise that had been one of the most popular, as well as one that had frequently left its fans distraught, not just with results but also their auction strategies, which had time and again left them with gaping holes in their team composition.The first step for Hesson and Katich was not to overhaul, but instead work with and polish the tools already in the shed. “We spent time identifying players for different positions and the kind of roles they will play,” Hesson said during the briefing, with Katich alongside. “There was a lot of talk on finishing innings with the ball. I feel we can improve on players we have and make them better. They are a year wiser, a year smarter. We want to maximise this playing group. You will not hear us talking of one or two players in particular. We are going to rely on all of them. Players who have not had a massive job in the past have to stand up. And we will back them.”The duo brought with them a methodical coaching philosophy that put the focus on consistency in selection, laying a solid groundwork going into auctions and rewarding X-factor players with a long rope, in contrast to the revolving door that had prevailed in previous seasons.The plan has worked so far, with the Royal Challengers making the playoffs for the first time since 2016. So how did the Royal Challengers script this turnaround?Devdutt Padikkal goes inside out•BCCIInvesting in a young Indian top-order batsmanRahul, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Manish Pandey (his breakthrough century in 2009 notwithstanding), Sarfaraz Khan, Sachin Baby, Mandeep Singh… the list is long. At different points in this decade, all these players were part of the Royal Challengers line-up before being discarded. While their talent was obvious, the presence of Gayle, de Villiers, Kohli and Tillakaratne Dilshan, who spent three years at the franchise, left them with few opportunities in their formative years.It appeared as if that trend would continue with Devdutt Padikkal, too. He was signed during the 2019 auction, but didn’t play a game that season. Old hands like Parthiv Patel continued to open for the Royal Challengers. Not that Patel performed poorly, but he wasn’t making a big impact.The franchise had to not just plan for this season but also for the future. Hesson had found one player who they could build that future around. Hesson, who happened to be a commentator during Padikkal’s breakthrough Karnataka Premier League season in 2018, trailed Karnataka across the country during their 2019-20 domestic season with one eye on Padikkal. He watched him consistently churn out runs and deliver titles in both the 50-overs and T20 competition for Karnataka.With a combination of fluent technique and bold strokeplay Padikkal has been the best emerging batsman this IPL. Hesson, Katich and Kohli have helped him settle in his role, and even though the Royal Challengers have continued to rely on Kohli and de Villiers, Padikkal has been a key performer.In their last league game against the Delhi Capitals, the 20-year-old eclipsed Shreyas Iyer’s record for most runs by an uncapped Indian in his debut season. He’s now closing in on the 500-run mark.Washington Sundar spins one in•BCCIRole clarity and consistency in selectionPlayers this season have got long runs in the side. After a bit of tinkering across the initial few matches, the Royal Challengers have found roles for key players and allowed them to settle into them. Aaron Finch was asked not just to help Padikkal understand match situations, but also provide robust starts. The Australia limited-overs captain struggled, but the team management did not give up easily.And though he hasn’t looked anywhere near his fluent best, he’s made a reasonable contribution with three half-century stands with Padikkal, and individual scores of 52 and 47, ensuring that the Royal Challengers seldom suffered early damage. It wasn’t until their 12th league match that the Royal Challengers replaced Finch with the less experienced Josh Philippe, whose talent has excited de Villiers among others.Philippe is yet to deliver on that promise, but the franchise is staying patient. The Royal Challengers have only used three opening combinations this season, even fewer than the four they used when they made the final in 2016. In 2018 and 2019, they used six and five opening pairs respectively.The same clarity is evident in the bowling department, too. Offspinner Washington Sundar has become as much a go-to bowler for Kohli as his senior spin partner Yuzvendra Chahal.Sundar hasn’t been straightjacketed as a powerplay specialist, something that limited him last year. If the situation has warranted it, he has bowled in the middle overs too, as he did in the final league match against the Delhi Capitals recently, when it became clear that the Royal Challengers needed to keep their net run rate in mind.Against specific teams, Sundar was given the new ball, like in the Super-Over thriller against the Mumbai Indians against Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock, who both like pace on the ball early. Like other key players, Sundar has had clarity with his role, which he alluded to in a media interaction.Navdeep Saini has been another dependable bowler for the Royal Challengers this season. In just his second IPL season, Saini has shown he has not just extreme pace but also the accuracy and the versatility to work out batsmen.In previous seasons, the Royal Challengers have struggled to balance their side, but they’ve managed to do so this year – it’s been a big reason for their good showing through the first 10 matches. That balance has been found courtesy de Villiers doubling up as wicketkeeper. De Villiers, whose back condition has needed constant monitoring in recent years, had last kept wickets for the Royal Challengers in 2013. His taking the big gloves has allowed the team to field an extra batsman or an extra bowler depending on the opposition and ground conditions.Mohammed Siraj takes off in celebration•BCCIFocus on data and match-upsAs important as stability of line-ups is, being rigid serves no purpose as was evident from the Chennai Super Kings’ performance this season. The Royal Challengers have made wise tactical calls, bringing in players based on the conditions.Take the example of Mohammed Siraj, who has played in only eight out of the 14 matches so far. Siraj was brought in specifically when they needed to strengthen their bowling in Sharjah – the smallest of the three venues, where playing an extra bowler has often been warranted.Later in the tournament, in conditions assisting swing in the open-air theatre of Abu Dhabi, Siraj blew away the Knight Riders with an outstanding spell of 3 for 8 in his four overs.Kohli had a big hand in Siraj’s success in that match particularly, where the Royal Challengers captain read the conditions as being favourable for swing bowling, and decided to change the original plan of bowling Sundar in the second over.Another smart tactical call Kohli made was bringing back Saini for an early fourth over in the Royal Challengers’ tournament opener, to go hard at the last recognised pair of Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and try and ensure the Sunrisers had no way back after a middle-order collapse. Saini burst through Kumar and Khan’s defences in the space of three balls. The Royal Challengers haven’t often shown sort of ruthlessness in past seasons, but they’ve shown they’re getting better at winning tactical battles.Chris Morris has been a valuable addition to RCB•BCCIThe Morris factorIn the past few seasons the Royal Challengers have tried a number of overseas allrounders without quite finding the right one for their needs. Marcus Stoinis spent two seasons at the franchise – 2018 and 2019 – without making too much of a noise, and before that there was Shane Watson, whom they used in a middle-order role rather than as opener as the Super Kings did so successfully in 2018. Then there was the spectacular failure of Corey Anderson as a death bowler in 2018.All three were batting allrounders whose failure to make an impact was partly down to a lack of clarity over their role.This time, the Royal Challengers were clear in their thinking. They needed a gun death bowler. They wanted a bowling allrounder and earmarked the South African Chris Morris at the auction, and were prepared to go even higher than the INR 10 crore they eventually shelled out for him. The reason was his death-overs economy rate. In the last four overs, Morris’ economy rate before this season (8.45) was the second-best among fast bowlers who had bowled at least 300 balls in this phase in the IPL, behind Lasith Malinga’s 7.82.Morris has delivered exactly what the Royal Challengers have asked of him. Of all bowlers who’ve sent down at least 30 balls in that phase, Morris (7.03) has the best death-overs economy rate. He’s also been effective in the powerplay, with an economy rate of 6.26 in this phase.Morris hobbled off the field with a hamstring niggle in the Royal Challengers’ final league game against the Delhi Capitals, having bowled just two overs. The team will desperately hope he returns fit in time for the Eliminator.Better communicationWhile the Royal Challengers have improved in many aspects, it’s not like they’ve always made the right decisions. Kohli admitted that holding de Villiers back and promoting Shivam Dube against Kings XI Punjab may have been a mistake, but even that decision gave a glimpse of the Royal Challengers’ thinking – of having a plan and having the willingness to stick with it. Kohli pointed out that one big change this season has been the transparency between the coaches and the players.”The communication is nicely designated this time,” Kohli said of the new leadership and coaching group. “It’s only when people don’t want to take responsibility you come into picture. Now people are taking their responsibility. So do we as players, but we don’t feel overburdened, which is a great thing in any system. This is the most balanced we’ve felt as a squad.”As part of their long-term vision the Hesson-Katich combine is attempting to build a culture of success and mentorship. Younger players were often the centre of team activities and bonding sessions.Gurkeerat Singh presented Finch his first Royal Challengers cap ahead of their season-opener. Chahal captained a team containing de Villiers and Finch in a practice match. Patel, who hasn’t played a single match, continues to help youngsters like Padikkal, the man who replaced him, with his batting. Dale Steyn may no longer be a regular, but he has taken Saini, Umesh Yadav and Siraj under his wing, and worked on their seam position and wrist action during numerous training sessions. Phillipe has been working with de Villiers, who has high hopes from the young Australian wicketkeeper.Through the camaraderie comes the trust and the collective belief. Such activities are not uncommon. In the end Kohli, Katich and Hesson are well aware that what will eventually matter is whether the team can win the IPL. They will feel the pressure from the owners. At the start of the IPL Sanjeev Churiwala, the outgoing chairman of the Royal Challengers, had admitted that not winning the title has piled pressure on the owners.It has not been a smooth run to the playoffs for the Royal Challengers. At one point they were threatening to finish in the top two, but they lost four matches on the bounce in the second half of the league phase.Yet here they are, in the playoffs, scampering through somehow. It isn’t ideal, but the Royal Challengers have another shot at history if they can win three more matches.

He has more than a few skills to be transferred in either direction, from the shortest format to the longest

Andrew Miller07-Feb-20212:30

What makes Jofra Archer special?

It’s a sign of the strange times that we live in, that two fast bowlers whose records and reputations precede them in India are only right now playing in their first Test match in the country – and on opposing teams as well.The Indian Premier League may be the stage on which both men have honed their crafts, but in their contrasting but complementary styles, first Jasprit Bumrah and now Jofra Archer have demonstrated an abiding truth about high-class fast bowling. It transcends time, place, formats and conditions – and it remains the most compelling factor in the game. Pace is pace, no matter where and how you use it, and pace with skill can be unplayable.Bumrah’s efforts ended up being rather buried beneath the mountains of runs that England piled up over the first two-and-a-bit days of this match. However, his ability to take the pitch out of the equation, unmatched in the contemporary game, was showcased by his three lbws on each day of the match – full, fast, inswinging and startling, as well as by arguably the single best ball of the match so far, a sensational late-dipping yorker that should by rights have unseated Ben Stokes before his vital 82 had got underway.On the third day, on the other hand, Archer’s efforts were front and centre of England’s surge into the ascendancy, and what’s more, they seized on the exact opposite approach to Bumrah, not to mention the exact same methods that earned him the accolade of MVP at the last IPL that finished in November. Aggression to the fore, accuracy unwavering, and most importantly for England’s burgeoning hopes in this campaign, a determination not only to embrace the uncompromising nature of the wicket, but to factor it actively into his methods.To be fair to England’s planning for this series, he’s hardly been alone in that. For the third match running, a different England new-ball bowler has nailed his methods in his first spell of the winter – but whereas Stuart Broad and James Anderson, in consecutive Tests against Sri Lanka, created their opportunities through relentless dot-ball pressure, Archer was more content to duke it out in his favourite T20 fashion, relishing the cut and thrust of the encounter, and encouraging errors through the batsman’s adrenaline as much as his own.Archer’s first five-over burst went for 25 runs but yielded two priceless wickets – Rohit Sharma scalped by a fast cutter that kicked off the deck as if was a Dukes ball in May, before kissing the edge through to the keeper. The other was burgled with pure IPL trickery, as Archer ripped his fingers down the side of the ball, luring a pumped-up Shubman Gill into a fatefully early push through the line to a diving Anderson at mid-on.Jofra Archer vs Rohit Sharma•ESPNcricinfo LtdFrom the outset, Archer’s blood was pumping, to a more visible degree than had ever been the case during his undeniably subdued performances during England’s summer series – epitomised by his comments during the Old Trafford Test against Pakistan, when he claimed that the wicket was not one on which to “bend your back”.It’s arguable that Archer’s point in that contest was misconstrued – it certainly seems that way after witnessing the ferocity of his approach both here and at the IPL – given that English conditions, even flatter pitches, tend to offer just enough assistance to reward the virtues of conventional line and length. Without ever slipping the handbrake in that Old Trafford game, he still contributed four wickets at 21.5 to England’s series-deciding win. And in the long term, if Archer can develop the versatility to thrive without going full throttle, he’ll be all the better set for a long and fruitful Test career, in all conditions.In the early years of the IPL, it was regularly stated that the best Test players were equipped to thrive in T20 cricket, but not vice versa – and for a time this was true, because the longer game still rewarded the sort of technical discipline for which white-ball cricket (as it wasn’t then called) was liable to cut corners. Test cricket is where you “build the brand”, as Kevin Pietersen infamously put it at the height of his stand-off with the ECB.But that attitude is palpably wrongheaded now – a decade has passed since David Warner broke the mould, and India have just ended Australia’s three-decade-long unbeaten run at the Gabba with a victory that was siphoned directly from the vim and optimism of regular T20 combat. And, as Archer showed in bucking every conceivable fast-bowling trend at the latest IPL, he has more than a few skills to be transferred in either direction.All told, Archer claimed 20 wickets at 18.25 in Rajasthan Royals’ campaign, but half of those came with the new ball in his Powerplay overs, at a stunning economy rate of 4.34 that was a testament, as much as anything, to his sheer unplayability. It was widely noted at the time, in fact, that he was adapting a Test-match attitude to his white-ball game, consistently targeting the top of off with judicious use of the bouncer – a weapon so ferocious, even in the UAE, that it actually improved his economy rate (to a remarkable 3.54) – while keeping even his more confident opponents guessing with his cunning armoury of cutters and knuckle-balls.And so it showed today, in a thrilling but short-lived joust with India’s openers. Over the course of the past three IPLs, Gill and Sharma had faced 18 balls from Archer, with a palpable lack of success. Each had been dismissed twice, for a grand total of 11 runs, and Sharma’s head-to-head on home soil is now particularly bleak – he had been dismissed by two of the first four balls that Archer had bowled to him in India, and he made it three out of eight in total today, as he flinched at a perfect pacey cutter, one ball after flicking a rare loose ball off his toes.As for Gill, there can’t have been many more scintillating sub-30 innings in recent Test history, as he too showed how transferable his short-form skills can be, not least against one of England’s established Test masters – his checked on-drive for four off Anderson was nothing less than a come-and-get-me plea from his as-yet unsponsored bat. But for India’s purposes, it proved too short and sweet. A blend of methods might yet be required in the second innings, if India are to back up their Australia heroics with another extraordinary turnaround in this contest.

In Bumrah, Rohit and Jadeja, India had players who could do what the hosts could not

George Dobell06-Sep-2021The gas holder still stood one side of the ground and Archbishop Tenison’s School to the other, but something surely had changed.This was the surface on which England’s bowlers had laboured for almost 150 overs in India’s second innings, after all. It was the surface on which James Anderson, one of the most skilful bowlers the country has ever produced, said he had tried everything to gain some movement but to no avail. It was the surface on which Jasprit Bumrah – who came into the game with a career average of 4.81 – had driven Chris Woakes through extra-cover with a confidence that suggested even batters of modest pretensions had nothing to fear on this wicket.But now it looked different. Now, as England lost four wickets for six runs, as four of their middle-order contributed seven between them, as India’s spinner choked the scoring and India’s seamers found late movement, it looked almost unrecognisable. In less than 24 hours, it seemed a pitch transported.That’s nonsense, of course. The truth is, in Bumrah India had a bowler with the pace and skill to extract life from the surface and the ball which was almost completely absent to his England counterparts. His figures of 2-27 do no justice to an outstanding spell of fast bowling which highlighted a key difference between the sides: he was able to hit the pitch harder than anyone in the England side and he was able to gain movement that England could not.But it wasn’t just about Bumrah. In Rohit Sharma, India had the one batter in the match to convert a start into a match-defining score, while in Ravindra Jadeja they had a spinner who could apply pressure and threaten. It is telling that his economy rate was 1.66 per over and his opposite number on the England side, Moeen Ali’s, was 4.54. Ultimately, India were just better than England.Related

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There is no disgrace in losing to this India side. Even with Virat Kohli enduring a prolonged run of modest form, even with their long tail, even without R Ashwin, they are a formidable side blessed with the talent and temperament to beat the best. Throughout this series, either with their top-order batting or their seam bowling, they have given England a lesson in playing in their own conditions. While it’s true this series could yet be drawn, it is worth remembering that, but for poor weather in Nottingham, the score line in this series would probably be 3-1 at present. Again, India just look the better side.With that acknowledged, perhaps we have to temper our criticism of England. And maybe they may consider themselves a little unfortunate, too. Perhaps the warmer weather over the last couple of days had helped the playing surface dry out and offer some reverse. Perhaps the footmarks outside the left-hander’s off stump had grown, too.But England had benefited from helpful conditions when they bowled first and reduced India to 127 for 7. You can’t have it both ways. They must know they played a part in their own downfall. They might accept that their catching, so poor for so long, is an accident waiting to happen. They might accept their first innings total of 290 was, perhaps, 100 fewer than they could have scored had they taken a more ruthless approach to their batting. And they might accept that, in losing 10 for 110 in their second innings, they showed a fragility that had become wearingly familiar. Joe Root, who has scored six Test centuries this year, won’t always be able to bail them out. The rest of his team have one between go them.England’s options for Emirates Old Trafford are not plentiful. Anderson, Woakes and Ollie Robinson looked exhausted long before the end of the India second innings and may all be considered high-risk options for Manchester. While Mark Wood will freshen up the seam attack, Saqib Mahmood and Brydon Carse are the latest options to have been struck by injury and Craig Overton sustained a nasty blow on the elbow which must render him a doubt. Two spinners might be one option, but Sam Curran and Gloucestershire’s David Payne could also win call-ups.Dawid Malan after being run-out, as Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant celebrate•AFP/Getty ImagesIt won’t make any difference who England pick if they cannot hold their catches, though. Six chances were squandered in this game, with Rohit reprieved on 6 and 31. It’s hardly surprising England’s seamers look tied: they’re effectively required to claim 25 wickets a game. The ECB scouting network holds vast amount of data, we are told. It seems incredible that an ability to field in the slips doesn’t appear to have been included in such calculations.Equally, Jonny Bairstow has now gone 18 Tests (that’s 34 innings) and almost three years without a century. In that time, he is averaging 21.40 with a top score of 57. This was his sixth duck in that period. It doesn’t say much for the production line of county cricket that he has been able to retain his place.It must also be recognised that England are without Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler – who is expected to return for the final Test having celebrated the arrival of a daughter – all of whom might be considered first-choice picks. But coping with injuries comes with the territory in sport. And maybe Stokes, in particular, has masked England’s deficiencies for too long. Perhaps it will, in the long-run, do them no harm to be exposed.For England are now facing the prospect of losing two Test series in a home summer for the first time since 1986. Given that they recently lost in India and next face the mother of all challenges in Australia and the possibility of four consecutive series defeats is real. The positions of captains and coaches are bound to come under question. But it’s far higher up the food chain, where decisions about scheduling and priorities are made, that questions should really be asked.That’s not the say the management do not have questions to answer. For too long, England have relied on Anderson and Broad to do the bulk of their seam bowling, in the knowledge they will utilise the Dukes ball and the English pitches very well. As a result, there has been little forward planning and almost no acknowledgement of the statistics that suggest that Anderson, in particular, is now struggling to back up performances in the second innings. It sometimes seems that the personalities involved are so powerful, nobody in the team management has the courage to make tough decisions.In the greater scheme of things, there was a fair bit to celebrate from The Kia Oval. We had a sell-out crowd for five days in succession, after all and, on the last day in particular, when tickets were priced at £20, there were many families and children in attendance. Let’s never forget how wonderful it is that, at cricket at least, the supporters of both sides (and it appeared as if there was a pretty even split of India and England supporters) can sit side-by-side for hours without falling out. We have a fantastic sport.But, in retrospect, it seems naive to have thought England could have pulled off a record run-chase against this India side. Akin to thinking Frank Bruno could beat Mike Tyson after he caught him with that left hook. In general, they have looked outgunned and outplayed. They have it all to do to pull-off a series-levelling victory at Emirates Old Trafford.

It isn’t just a question of the next century, the man is now sparring with administrators, unthinkable two years ago

Osman Samiuddin25-Dec-2021Welcome back to the planet, Virat. It’s been a while. It’s not in the best shape it’s ever been right now, but it’ll have to do, because it is where we all eventually end up.Although, for a while, it did genuinely look like earth might never be big enough for Virat Kohli, that Kohli had become so big he wasn’t supranational, it was possible to think of him eclipsing multiverses and not traversing them: think Sachin Tendulkar, add MS Dhoni, times the sum by Bollywood, all to the power West Delhi.Kohli was the barometer through which the health of a game – even the health of a nation – could be measured. If Kohli said he loved Test cricket, then Test cricket was still breathing. If Kohli shook hands with Shahid Afridi, it was possible to imagine harmony between the two countries. If Kohli didn’t play in a series, that country’s cricket economy was doomed. With Kohli, broadcasters happily ripped off the façade that cricket is a team game, training their cameras on him. A Kohli net session became a must-watch event.Related

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For a while, on the field, Kohli was infallible, indefatigable, unquenchable, and above all, inevitable. All the biggest and the greatest go through this one period, and perhaps the only difference ends up being of degrees. We wonder, not only when this greatness will ever stop, but how it can possibly ever stop? With each one of them, we think this one – – will surely be the greatest of them all.And then, without paying it any more attention than what you would to a temporary run of un-great scores, a lean run turns into lean days turns into lean months turns into a lean year turns into the start of the regression back to great, rather than greatest turns into the start of the end. Because – and this is a lesson we happily forget every time – gravity gets us all (the Don excepted) in the end.Massive caveat: this is Kohli, who is 33, and has been the gold standard when it comes to fitness. In a time when more athletes are being great deeper into their 30s, it’s entirely plausible to see a whole new coda to Kohli’s career over the next five, six years. He is Kohli after all, who will never be done with proving somebody, anybody, wrong.But when you burn as intensely as Kohli has done, there’s always the risk that burnout happens quicker. In which light, this phase of Kohli, ticking over two years now, is beginning to feel a little bit more loaded than just a phase. A phase is what a teenager passes through; for adults, it may need a more serious diagnosis.

Kohli is now sparring with administrators. Two years ago, this was unthinkable. He was untouchable. Nobody could have picked a fight with him. They all let him be so that the idea that he would one day have to take to a press conference to fight back against a BCCI press release seemed comically beneath him

Two years without a hundred of any kind, two years in which his Test average has fallen five runs. If he bats every innings this series, is dismissed each time and scores less than 198 runs, his Test average will fall under 50. Meaning that by his 100th Test, Kohli’s Test average could be under 50. Little says batting mortality like an average under 50, in any era.Kind of like age, though, the average can sometimes also just be a number; it’s not always indicative of how one feels, especially when it is flitting around high-end landmark numbers. Still, it is strange to think of Kohli as a sub-50 Test batter; the last time he was that was August 2017, when he’d spent nearly a year hovering around that 50 mark. Two of India’s greatest batters before him, Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, were, by their 100th Tests, both averaging 57.As with everything, though, Covid-19 has warped the texture of this Kohli run. It feels both like it has gone on for a while but also that it hasn’t; two years is plenty of time, but he’s played 13 Tests in that time, whereas he played nearly twice as many – 24 Tests – in the two-year period before that.If it was only a question of his batting, though, it would be simpler because it’s not as if he has looked like some struggling, out-of-sorts batter. His last 11 Test innings include scores of 44, 42, 20, 55, 50, 44 and 36. This is not out of form.But Kohli is now sparring with administrators. Two years ago, this was unthinkable. He was untouchable. Nobody could have picked a fight with him. The Committee of Administrators let him be. The coach let him be. The players let him be. They all let him be so that the idea that he would one day have to take to a press conference to fight back against a BCCI press release seemed comically beneath him.4:52

Kohli: ‘Nothing can derail me from being motivated to play for India’

He’s no longer captain of all formats. And because he’s been pushed out in one, it allows the germ of another previously unthinkable thought to slip in – that there may even come a time soon when he is no longer a part of at least one white-ball side. Hell, if the BCCI wants to get vindictive, he may no longer be part of the other. Far-fetched still, but then this is now a regular, worldly situation, a scrap between a board and star player. This has happened before. To other stars. Kohli was going to be the one who transcended all this and now he’s just another star.It says something about his impact that he’s still likely to achieve something no Asian captain has if India win in South Africa and he then avoids defeat next summer in the re-scheduled Test against England – if he’s still captain, no longer perishing that thought. He’ll become the first Asian captain to have won Test series in England, Australia, and South Africa.But the sharpness, the bristle, can’t help but be somewhat blunted now. In a happier way, from the other end of the spectrum of life experiences to a workplace scrap, parenthood cannot help but have done the same. Few things can cause a razor-sharp, myopic focus to be diffused as a child can.This is Kohli’s new world, one in which it’s possible to see him no longer as the essential figure or as clearly defined against the background. For more or less three decades, Indian cricket, and by extension world cricket, has had one global star. Through Tendulkar, then Dhoni and then Kohli, the game has tried to explain itself to the outside world. Through each it has sought to measure itself against the outside world, to sell itself to the outside world, to find its place in the outside world. Each one has been more burdened than the last. Maybe, the time is coming to start thinking about the next in that line.All of which, of course, is exactly what Kohli needs, to think that he’s being written off, to think that he has enemies to slay. No better time than now, in this new world, to find that old motivation.