Zen and the Art of a Virat Fifty

Long after he retires for good, Virat Kohli will be remembered for his ability to chase a target in one-day cricket. And the hundreds he made in them. No other player has done both as effectively in the 60-odd years this format has existed. Yet, while his hundreds remain a cultural milestone, Kohli has hunted down scores in ODI cricket with very effective fifties that few ever talk about. On Wednesday in Auckland, a day shy of his 38^th birthday, Kohli proved once again that a brilliant essay needn’t always reach the three-figure mark to be earmarked for posterity.

On a spicy wicket in Eden Park where good batting was generally interrupted by rain and fantastic fast bowling, Kohli scored a sensational 74 – the next best score, across both innings, was Tim Seifert’s 38. Despite these runs being scored in a largely inconsequential ODI, the greatness of Kohli’s art will ensure that it stands out, along with other great chase-fifties. He has scored 79 of them so there are way too many to mention, but the 85 against Australia in India’s World Cup 2023 opener in Chennai (after the hosts were reduced to 2/3) springs to mind.

Kohli has the most hundreds in ODI cricket – 55, six more than Sachin Tendulkar’s 49 that once seemed unbeatable. But there's something particularly satisfying about a Kohli fifty, or any winning fifty for that matter, in a chase. A hundred, for all its grandeur, is often a story of accumulation, of a batsman getting into his stride and gradually taking a game away from the opposition. A fifty can be much more brutal and urgent, like it was on Wednesday.

“When I think back 10-15 years, I haven’t seen him batting better than this,” said Ravi Shastri on air, insightful words from a man who has seen it all. “Terrific to watch, Virat seems to be batting on a different pitch to the others. He also thinks differently from the others.” With Kohli making such innings look deceptively simple and Shastri – Kohli’s former international coach and well part of his current inner circle – giving the TV audience a glimpse of his inner workings, former New Zealand wicketkeeper Ian Smith asked his fellow commentator about the great man’s preparations.

“I’ve seen him day-in day-out, going through his routine before going to the nets, and during it,” replied Shastri. “All I can say is there are no half measures.”

Just as he said that, Kohli tried to pull Jacob Duffy for his 15^th boundary of the night, only for the ball to clip the toe end of the bat and end up in the hands of an outfielder. A disbelieving Kohli laughed wryly, punching the point of the contact on the willow, before walking away to a standing ovation. He was primed for a hundred, but as he raised his bat to the Auckland crowd, it was perhaps his way of saying that these fifties ought to be recognised too.