2 minute read Oh for a captain who knows what it’s like to win a Test series in India. England have had just one such leader since David Gower triumphed way back in 1984-85. It was, er, Alastair Cook. This probably goes to show that ‘knowing how to win in India’ is just
Continue readingTag: Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli was a massive disappointment today
2 minute read There was an awful lot of fuss after the first half of Virat Kohli’s innings. People said he was unreal, a genius – an unreal genius. Sunil Gavaskar said he was from another planet and lest anyone ask which one, he specified that it was an undiscovered planet. They said
Continue readingGood evening, Mr Kohli?
< 1 minute read Before tea, Che Pujara and Virat Kohli, neither of whom had looked too troubled, started to hit a few more fours. It felt predictable and seemed to foreshadow a long evening session for England. After tea, Pujara – perhaps concerned that he might partially obscure Kohli’s halo – needlessly looped
Continue readingIs Virat Kohli really India’s best batsman?
2 minute read Were he to find himself playing in a format-spanning Super Series, it would seem highly likely that Virat Kohli could find himself named man-of-it. The guy averages over 50 in the two shorter formats with a perfectly healthy strike-rate in both. His Test record’s very good too: 12 Test hundreds
Continue readingVirat Kohli is not a bowler, Lendl Simmons is not out, Andre Russell is not suspended
< 1 minute read India became so utterly convinced of Virat Kohli’s Midas touch that they gave him an over with the ball. He took a wicket with his first ball. That was the point where they should probably have drawn a line under things. Instead, Kohli came back to bowl the final over
Continue readingWhen it comes to Virat Kohli, object to the hero worship, not the hero
2 minute read Perspective is rarely so absent as in the immediate aftermath of a successful Indian run chase. Even so, the plaudits for Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 82 off 51 against Australia were… let’s go with ‘fulsome’. Fox Sports called him an ‘absolute freak’ because a freak’s a good thing these days. Sourav
Continue readingHow many World Cup hundreds has Virat Kohli scored?
2 minute read We suppose we really should at least acknowledge that the biggest cricket match of recent years took place. You know the one – Virat Kohli scored a hundred (as usual) and Misbah-ul-Haq made a futile 50 (as usual). It was Kohli’s 22nd one-day international hundred, a number that is both
Continue readingVirat Kohli applies the icing – but the cake’s a piece of crap and soon collapses
< 1 minute read Let’s leave Alastair Cook until tomorrow and instead take a quick look at how India’s run-chase went in the first Test. The tourists lost and Nathan Lyon alone took as many wickets as they did, but somehow it doesn’t feel like it was that bad a performance. India somehow managed
Continue readingAlastair Cook failed to ration his runs
< 1 minute read Virat Kohli’s due a score, isn’t he? And how many runs has Alastair Cook got in his bag, just waiting to be plucked out? Or is it more that Cook’s now suffering the inevitable consequences of frittering runs away earlier in his career. There was a complete lack of rationing
Continue readingSouth Africa chose to bat
< 1 minute read That was where everything went wrong. They hauled it back a bit by batting okay, but really the match was decided when Faf du Plessis scorned the coin’s generosity. Why would you ask Virat Kohli to chase? It’s like asking Mike Gatting to guard your cupcakes from scavengers. This leaves
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