Virat Kohli (Image credit: BCCI/IPL) NEW DELHI: There are only a handful of games that Virat Kohli will play on his home turf in Delhi. This explains the deafening clamor for passes for Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) weekday match against Delhi Capitals in the corridors of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA).From a brash non-conformist youth to a spiritually driven statesman, the legend of Kohli is one of constant evolution. It is a process that does not stop, a process that inspires awe in the people who witness it first hand. It has allowed him to walk side by side with the younger generation who are rewriting the grammar of T20 batting, a process that is helping him maintain his superstar status even as an anti-superstar culture has been initiated in Indian cricket.The IPL has gone beyond the level where it is close to being labeled as a different sport than the one played around the world. A staggering 986 runs were scored in 77.2 overs in two matches on Sunday. The use of undiminished strength, power and physicality behind these runs could equal the violence of any action movie.At the other end of the spectrum is Kohli, who uses his bat as a delicate piece of equipment that breaks the morale of bowling attacks bit by bit. Match by match.Even as the world recovered from Sunday’s bloody run – where 265 and 229 were comfortably chased down – it must be remembered that it was Kohli who played a major role in a comfortable chase of over 200 against Gujarat Titans the night before. The gold standard of batting in Indian cricket for the past 15 years, his legacy has quietly influenced the renaissance of Indian T20 batting today.
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Bombay Sport Exchange: Munaf Patel on Gautam Gambhir, Virat vs Bumrah and Indian bowling.Funky ramp shots, scoops and bold reverse sweeps/scoops are hardly seen in T20 cricket now. RCB skipper Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal – RCB’s engine room in the middle order – have redefined themselves as T20 batsmen this year, banking on conventional shot-making. They spent the whole evening here in the Cauldron, firing big shots at the ground. “I remember a few years ago there were a lot of kicks and other funky shots like that. Now it’s about how the players can just control their shots. I would say people are focusing more on making sure their normal shots have a lot more power to clear boundaries,” RCB mentor Dinesh Karthik said on Sunday. That Kohli continues to challenge the next generation of Indian T20 batting stars for the Orange Cap (highest run-scorer) is a testament to his insatiable hunger for excellence. Ironically, this is the format he first abandoned in international cricket two years ago when questions were raised about his ability to keep up with the times.And now that the cricketing world has accepted scores of 225 and above as the new IPL standard, Kohli has remained relevant and a perfect example for his peers around him.RCB mentor Dinesh Karthik attributes this to the man’s stubbornness to trust his methods. “Every year he comes back and evaluates what he has done. He comes back with a very stubborn plan and he does it not only on match days but also the way he trains,” Karthik said.“The youngsters in the team keep asking me what does Virat bhaiya do differently,” mentioned Karthik, “I credit him for reinventing himself with every passing year and keeping up with the pace of this game where some of the newer players are hitting crazy rates.”
