The Best of 2017: 5 of Virat Kohli's top knocks during the year

Virat Kohli had a year to remember in 2016 and people called it his purple patch. The thing with purple patches is that they come to an end sooner or later. Many people did think Kohli’s rich form would be over when England and Australia came to India in 2017. But, then there’s the thing about Kohli, he has made a habit out of doing the unthinkable.

He schooled every opposition the side faced in the past year, maybe not so much the Australians and maybe not so much in the Indian Premier League (IPL), which brought back the same questions about the end of the purple patch. But, Kohli’s not one to give up. It was a year to remember for him anyway. He became captain across all formats and aced it.

It did not affect his performance but perhaps, brought a maturity to it. He got married, defying all talks and giving us major goals. And, throughout the year, he gave us knocks to cherish. Here are the 5 top knocks of the year:

#1. 122 vs England, 1st ODI, Pune

It was Kohli’s first official assignment after being given the baton of captaincy across all formats. India had conceded 350 runs, and while it was horrific. We would have saved ourselves the worry had we known what was about to come in the Indian innings. Interestingly, this is one of the few innings where Kohli was outdone by another batsman in terms of brilliance but the very fact that he played the supporting role makes it one of his best.

For England, Jason Roy, Joe Root and Ben Stokes had played brilliant knocks each to post that mammoth but India as local boy Kedar Jadhav and Virat Kohli got together, it was an exhibition to say the least. Of course, the spotlight was on Jadhav and his 120 off 76 was something else but Kohli’s 122 off 105 made the victory possible when India at one point were 63/4.

They put up a mammoth 200-run stand off just 147 balls and literally stole the game from England who were left wondering what they did wrong. That was the beginning of the Virat Kohli era and the never-say-die attitude that it brought to the team.

#2. 81* vs Pakistan, Group stage, Champions Trophy

Kohli wasn’t the highest scorer of the match, nor was it a match that needed his ‘saving’ so to say, but it was one more instance of what he can do when playing an anchoring role. Rohit Sharma had already done the damage with his 91 but then came Yuvraj Singh who combined with Kohli to deflate the Pakistani bowlers almost effortlessly. It was that match where Kohli said, “I felt like a club batsman while playing alongside Yuvi, the way he was hitting the ball.” It was undoubtedly vintage Yuvi on show and Kohli may have looked a little dull in comparison, briefly.

However, it wasn’t long before he joined the party and went berserk against the Pakistani bowlers. It continued even after he lost Yuvraj on the other end and ensured a colossal 324 target that proved to be too much for Pakistan. I go back to read the commentary for this match and it describes Kohli pumped up like a WWE wrestler, playing with his godly wrists and how it’s normal for him to do the unthinkable and unbelievable. It was true. His seamless acceleration in the game was what made it so special.

#3. 213 vs Sri Lanka, 2nd Test, Nagpur

After a fairly competitive first Test, Sri Lanka faced a total drubbing in the second Test in Nagpur. Pujara, Vijay, Rohit, Kohli all toyed with the bowling and all of them scaled milestones of some or the other kind. Kohli, in particular, bagged his 19th Test century, perhaps, one of the easier ones in his career. This was his 10th hundred in this calendar year – the most by any captain, getting past Ricky Ponting – who had hit 9 hundreds in a year – twice.

Once he got started, it was difficult to put a break on it, as it happens in most cases with Kohli and his 5th double-century was inevitable. It was one of those knocks where it looked like he could do whatever he wanted since the moment he came on the crease. His contribution was so impactful that India did not have to bat another innings, resulting in a massive defeat of an innings and 239 runs for the Islanders. Sri Lanka collectively couldn’t score 213 in either of the innings, so that says a lot.

#4. 82 vs Sri Lanka, Only T20I, Colombo

The 170 posted by Sri Lanka looked like a competitive total half-way through the match, and it may have been because the Indian batsmen couldn’t do much in the chase until Kohli and Manish Pandey came along. Kohli’s form in the series was at another level as he began the annihilation after Rohit and Rahul fell relatively early. The Indian skipper took charge and looked in full rhythm right from the start.

He allowed Pandey the time to settle in, and when he did, the partnership blossomed and it swiftly took the game away from the hosts. Kohli ended up with a brilliant fifty in his 50th T20I, and in the process, he even went past Brendon McCullum as the highest run-scorer in T20I run-chases.

Kohli self-admittedly said that he did not express himself as well in the T20 format as he did in the ODIs, however, he did say that success in this match was a result of backing his strengths in T20 cricket and look to play good cricketing shots. And boy did he play those shots!

#5. 104 vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Kolkata

The match may have ended in a draw but the result can’t fool us because it was a Test to remember. He was dismissed for a duck in the first innings but when they knew India had to draw the match, Kohli, the calculative chase master stepped up. He batted like he was risk-free as he accelerated the game from 5 rpo to 10 rpo. It was his 18th Test ton, his 1st at the Eden Gardens and his 11th as captain. What makes this knock particularly memorable is the fact that he stamped his authority when India were put on the back foot.

Had there not been issues with the light, India may well have won the match. The Indian bowlers would definitely have been the reason had that happened. But the team even thinking about the victory was an idea in every member’s mind after Kohli’s show which personified a “it’s not over till the last ball is bowled” approach from the entire team.