In late November, cricket witnessed an extremely unfortunate incident, that shocked people across the world. A bouncer from Sean Abbott hit batsman Phillip Hughes, the ball finding its way below his helmet, under his ear. Hughes collapsed on the spot and unfortunately passed away a couple of days later. The entire cricket fraternity was in utter disbelief, as the world bid farewell to a great sportsman.
The test series between India and Australia was delayed, and began on 9th December in Adelaide. Virat Kohli went down for the toss in the center, playing his debut as test captain. Cricket Australia had named Phillip Hughes as the 13th man.
The Australian batsmen got off to a great start. It looked like they would take away the game from the Indians on the very first day. At stumps on Day 1, Australia had put 354 on the boards, with the loss of 6 wickets. The next day, Australian skipper Clarke declared at 517-7. A massive total, accomplished through contributions of centuries from Warner, Smith, and the skipper, Pup, himself.
India’s openers, took the walk back to the pavilion early and it was time for Virat Kohli to step up to the task. Facing his first ball, he was struck on his helmet by a lethal bouncer from Mitchell Johnson. For a few seconds following that, it was as though everything went into slow motion. The players ran towards him, the commentator’s tone became worrisome and a hush fell across the spectators. After the recent mishap, every single soul on the ground was concerned. It was a moment of relief, when the confirmation came, that all was well. Play resumed.
Kohli, too, got back into the groove and kept the momentum. He led from the front and deserves much of the credit for bringing his side back into the game. As his answer, he went onto score his 7th Test century, at the same ground where he had scored his maiden one.
He batted through three partnerships, till he was finally dismissed at 115, at the hands of Mitchell Johnson.
India finished all out at 444. Then Australia went on to bat and make another 250 runs, declaring, when they were leading by 363. The Indian batsmen, led once again by Kohli who played a captain’s knock, tried to bring their side back into the game. Kohli went on to score 141: his 8th hundred in test cricket and also his highest score in a test match. Murali Vijay was beaten at 99, falling short of his century by just one run.
Virat Kohli is becoming the go-to-man for the Indian cricket team. It seems like only yesterday when he had led the under-19 Indian team to the World Cup win, and today, he has a total of 29 centuries, across all formats of the game, against his name. All this, at the age of 26, thus becoming one of the youngest players to score as many hundreds so early into the career. He took 124 innings to reach his 19th ODI century, faster than any other player.
As we have seen time and again, he seems to have a bright future in the many years of cricket left in him. It would be surprising, to know that, with a ODI high score of 183, and a test matches high score of now, 141, he has never scored a double-hundred.
Just when people started wondering if Australia had taken the wrong decision by declaring, the Australian bowlers swung right back into the game. Their bowling attack, led by Nathan Lyon finished off the Indian batsmen. As the innings progressed, the Indian batsmen kept taking the long walk back, and the hopes of the 1.2 billions inched towards being false ones. The Men in Blue succumbed to a 48 run defeat.
I’m not the kind to believe in superstitions, but turns out that the 13th was pretty unlucky for Indian sport. Not only did the Cricket team lose a close match, but also did the Indian Hockey team at the FIH (Federation of International Hockey) semi-finals.
It’s not over just yet, and let’s hope for a comeback and better fortune in the coming matches Down Under. For what else can rid these winter blues!
