India waits with bated breath for another Kohli magic

NILGIRIS: A young Virat Kohli carrying Sachin Tendulkar on his shoulders during the victory lap after India clinched the ODI World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium in 2011 is an indelible memory for every Indian cricket aficionado.

To many, the moment also signified the passing of the baton from an ageing Tendulkar to Kohli.

Twelve years on, Kohli overtook Tendulkar’s ODI record of 49 centuries with a sublime knock in the semifinal against New Zealand on Wednesday, also at the Wankhede, as the hosts sealed a spot in the 2023 World Cup final, and will take on Australia for the title in Ahmedabad this evening. Today will also see a symbolic change of guard, the handing of the mantle so to say, from senior statesman Kohli to the young and immensely talented Shubman Gill.

At 35, the supremely fit Kohli undoubtedly has a couple of more years of international cricket left in him, but the next ODI World Cup, four years from now, is in the distant future not just for him but also for over half-a-dozen senior members of the current Indian team.

This probably led former India head coach Ravi Shastri to predict that if it’s not this time then the country will have to wait for at least a dozen years to build a similar kind of outfit to win an ODI World Cup.

“If they miss out this time, they would probably have to wait for another three World Cups to even think of trying to win it. The pool of players is such that 7-8 are at their peak. This could be their last World Cup,” Shastri told a podcast recently.

India remains the only unbeaten team in the competition, and such was their dominance in all departments that expectations are running high in the cricket-crazy nation. That the hosts have triumphed in each of the last three ODI World Cups has only furthered the excitement.

Undoubtedly there is tremendous pressure on Kohli, who was known by his nickname Cheeku as a youngster during the 2011 World Cup campaign, but is now a modern-day legend and one of the world’s best batters across formats.

India’s last ICC silverware came under MS Dhoni’s captaincy, the Champions Trophy in 2013, and today is possibly the country’s best opportunity to secure a third ODI World Cup, given the momentum the side is carrying.

Talismanic Kohli is in magical touch with three hundreds and five fifties in 10 outings in this edition, and majestic Gill, who scored an unbeaten 80 in the semifinals, put Kohli’s influence in perspective during the post-match press conference.

“You know, every time he comes on to the park, he does something special and just how consistently he’s been able to do it for the past 10-15 years is what is really inspiring. And I think, for me, it’s not so much about the skill that he has, but it’s more about the hunger when he goes there and the intensity with which he plays the game. And to be able to have that consistently for as long as he’s been doing it is what really inspires me.”