Virat Kohli’s 29th Test ton: Should his fans be ready to see their hero be less aggressive now?

Over the course of a decorated 15-year international career, Virat Kohli has struck 76 international hundreds. Each one probably better than the other. Imperious, dominating, aggressive, classy, these are some of the many adjectives that have been used to describe Kohli’s knocks. Yet, his 76th, that came on Friday, July 21, at Port of Spain, which was the 29th of his Test career, and which made him the only man to score a hundred in his 500th international game, made one reach for the thesaurus to find synonyms for self-denial and discipline. In this Sportscast, Times of India’s cricket writers Partha Bhaduri and Nitin Naik try to deconstruct and unravel this new style of play that seems to have consumed Kohli, post the pandemic. The method has seen his average and strike-rate drop rather alarmingly (prior to 2023 and especially in the pandemic years in 2020-2022) and given an impression that he allows bowlers to dominate him. The Sportscast talks about what may have made Kohli opt for safety first and choose struggle and substance over style as his eye probably picks up length a fraction of a second slower now as he reaches batting middle-age, than it did in his pomp, between 2015 to 2019, where it appeared as if he could walk through fire. The speakers try and find patterns in his dismissals, especially against left-arm spin and right-arm finger spin and how he may find an answer to that. Through this Sportscast, the two speakers ask if playing in the Duleep Trophy would have served Kohli better rather than going on a tour where the opposition isn’t first-rate. The chat also focuses on whether the absence of someone solid like Cheteshwar Pujara at No.3 has prompted Kohli to curb his natural style and whether the bowlers and opposition, with generous help from video analysts, have learnt to bowl in areas where his release shots have been blocked, leading to a fall in his strike-rate. While comparing Tendulkar’s second wind, where the legend was prolific without being flashy, the writers agree that embracing minimalism came easier to Tendulkar, but for Kohli, who relies so much on adrenaline, the pushing of the go-slow button, is turning out to be more challenging and it involved a liberal taming of his ego and the willingness to look ugly. But that needs to be celebrated rather than criticized and him not going to South Africa in December-January, should be a thought that should be junked at the earliest. Audio production: Sahil Gupta