Last day,first show

Rahul Dravid and centurion Virat Kohli stitch 170-run stand as India finally bat like world champions.

In the company of Rahul Dravid,Virat Kohli stayed grounded. Well after scoring his half-century,Kohli continued to play along the carpet,rather than unleashing air balls. Even after their stand crossed the 100-run mark,the Kohli-Dravid stand didn’t witness even one shot that was uppish in nature. But as the slog overs approached and India still had eight wickets in hand,it was time to get adventurous. Still,Kohli wasn’t ready to lead the charge. In an attempt to bat away his demons,he decided to follow the Dravid way.

Off the final ball of the 39th over,Dravid went inside out to scoop Ravi Bopara over extra cover. The subsequent boundary was a signal,like a subtle nod of the head to indicate that it was time for his young partner to throw caution to the wind. The ground work had been done,now the aerial attack was being commissioned. On his part,Kohli took the baton and sprinted. England all-rounder Samit Patel was to bear the brunt,as the left-arm spinner went for 16 in the 40th over of the game. It was now time for the death overs.

The 160-ball 170 stand between Kohli and Dravid was a template in how the No.3 and No.4 batsmen in the ODI side should approach the innings after a sedate start. They didn’t just navigate safely through the tough middle overs,but also provided the momentum for a slog in the final overs. After that Dravid scoop,India scored 104 runs in the last 11 overs to finish at 304/6. Dhoni (50 from 26 balls) played the perfect hand that every No.7 dreams of,one that brought the first innings to a thrilling climax.

Before the late charge

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While the most entertaining part of the innings were the death overs when Dhoni hit five fours and two sixes it was the middle overs with Dravid and Kohli at the crease that were the most engrossing. England captain Alastair Cook had a plan in mind,and he religiously stuck to it. With his bowlers sticking to an off-side line,Cook had short mid-off and extra cover at handshaking distance. With both a deep-point and long-off in place,the batsmen found it hard to thread the gaps on the off side. But Dravid is an old hand at handling such tactics.

Playing his last one-dayer,Dravid didn’t fall into that trap and tapped the ball for singles to keep the scoreboard moving. Kohli,meanwhile,tried his hand at bisecting the extra cover and mid-off fielders. For that,he used his trademark cover drive,the one that resembles a table tennis topspin stroke. It’s a shot that reduces the risk of mistiming the ball or playing it in the air. For his efforts,he managed to squeeze one Samit Patel ball past the extra-cover fence.

Having given up in finding gaps on his preferred side,Kohli shifted his focus to the leg side. And his on-side play was a lesson in geometry,as he tried to discover innovative angles in order to score the boundaries,despite the tight lines and interesting field placements. Kohli’s first four on Friday proved that he was finally in sublime touch. As a Graeme Swann ball pitched on middle & leg,he used his feet to send it between mid wicket and mid on. It was an inch-perfect drive that bisected the two crisscrossing fielders.

Kohli had looked good in the ODI series,but hadn’t lasted long enough to score a decisive knock. A great knock threatened to make its presence felt,and today it finally exited the pipeline. For assistance and guidance,he must of course thank a man who won’t be seen in this format anymore,for Kohli took a leaf out of the batting legend’s book. And it all fell in place.

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With the seniors gradually waning away,the emerging youngsters will not have a batting encyclopaedia to sift through on-field when facing a run slump. But for Kohli it will always be slightly different. He will always see the light at the end of the tunnel by remembering Dravid’s last walk under the sun.