Team India skipper Virat Kohli’s purple patch is proving phenomenal. He has just become the first Indian to score three ODI centuries on the trot and soon after becoming the quickest in world cricket to amass 10,000 runs, which he did in far fewer innings (205) than his great run-making predecessor in modern cricket — Sachin Tendulkar (259 innings). Cricket is a team game offering enormous scope for outstanding individual performers. Kohli, who captured the unofficial title of best batsman in the world quite some time ago, is now performing optimally. The best batsmen in history have excelled in converting their peak form into a string of tall scores. With 62 international centuries already under his belt, Kohli is well on the way to sink Tendulkar’s world record of hundred centuries.
It is another matter that Kohli is scoring mountains of runs while his team is struggling against the not so mighty West Indies. This is not the situation Team India would like to be in when hardly nine months remain for the 2019 World Cup. The selectors have acted wisely in recognising that M.S. Dhoni’s skills and reflexes are in decline and they have dropped him from the T20 format. They may have to take a bold call soon regarding ODIs too as uncertainty around his wicket-keeper’s place would be the last thing Team India would like before the big event.
