• Home
  • Writers Opinion
  • Was Virat Kohli Selfish A Deep Dive Into Maestros Ton To Explore The Anchor And The Ego

Was Virat Kohli Selfish? A Deep Dive Into Maestro's Ton To Explore The Anchor And The Ego

Soumyajit Dutta

Virat Kohli at Dubai after his sensational ton [Source: @sleepyxoxoheads/X.com]Virat Kohli at Dubai after his sensational ton [Source: @sleepyxoxoheads/X.com]

Story continues below ADVERTISEMENT

The murmurs had grown into a cacophony. A seven-ODI stretch of 191 runs at an average of 27. Critics sharpened their knives, fans clutched their doubts, and the noise drowned out the reason. The King's crown is tumbling in the dust, they said, but in the theatre of sport, legends aren't written in ink; they're carved in fire.

Enter Dubai. A space that became a cauldron of history, rivalry, and 242 runs looming like a storm cloud. Pakistan's Shaheen Afridi, with his searing pace, had already felled Rohit Sharma in the powerplay. The scoreboard flickered 28/1, the pressure simmered, and the weight of a nation slid onto the shoulders of a man they'd dared to doubt.

King Enters The Battlefield

Virat Kohli walked in like a monk entering a temple. No flourish, no fury. Just the quiet resolve of a general who'd weathered battles. With Shubman Gill, he stitched calm into chaos, a 69-run partnership where boundaries were rationed, singles savoured.

When Gill fell to Abrar Ahmed's wizardry, Kohli didn't flinch. He anchored Shreyas Iyer through a century stand, steering India from turbulence to tranquillity. His bat wasn't a sword, it was a compass, navigating minefields of spin and pace with clinical precision.

Critics waited for the old Kohli, the one who'd fist-pump at milestones or stare down bowlers. Instead, they got a surgeon. A fifty came off 62 balls, definitely, a slow one met with a muted nod. The crowd buzzed, but Kohli's eyes stayed locked on the horizon. With Iyer gone and Hardik Pandya failing to finish, Axar Patel came in with the King unfazed on the pitch.

Then, the moment. Two runs to win and four for his century. Khushdil Shah, Pakistan's last hope, steamed in. Kohli leaned into a drive, the ball racing to the boundary like a shooting star. The crowd erupted. The century was his victory, India’s or maybe both assimilating into one as the whole nation celebrated his ton as their personal win.

Critics didn't have a good time for sure as the man they'd buried under "droughts" and "decline" had scripted a masterpiece, an unbeaten 100* off 111 balls, laced with patience, not pyrotechnics.

Was Kohli Selfish Playing Slow?

Let’s rewind. When Rohit fell, India needed glue, not grease. A chase of 242 on a tricky Dubai track demanded someone to own the crease, not abandon it. Rohit losing the toss was a major concern from the pitch point of view, as Dubai's conditions under the lights make it tough for the batters to open up.

Hence, Kohli's "slow" fifty wasn't an indulgence; it was insulation against collapse. His partnerships with Gill and Iyer didn't just add runs; they drained Pakistan's belief. Every dot ball absorbed pressure and every single one shifted it back.

Yes, he paused at 85, when Hardik came and smashed down a boundary from the onset. But with victory assured, why begrudge a legend his moment under the lights? The century wasn't a vanity project; it was the exclamation mark of a narrative of resilience. In a team sport, sometimes selfishness is selflessness. The anchor who stays wins wars.

The King didn't reclaim his throne with a roar. He did it with a whisper, one that echoed, "This is how you win". And in that whisper, doubters found their answer.