In game-winning knock vs Bangladesh, Virat Kohli gives indication that signature swat flick is coming soon | Cricket-world-cup News

Going his reaction on reaching his ton, it was evident that the milestone meant a lot to Virat Kohli. On 97, with India needing three for a win, he refused a single after driving to long-on. His partner KL Rahul, who had narrowly missed a hundred against Australia, was more than happy to stay put at his end before Kohli whacked the next ball from spinner Nasum Ahmed over wide midwicket to bring up his landmark.
With a smiling Mushfiqur Rahim watching intently from behind the stumps, Kohli raised his bat as he took a few steps down the pitch before the emotions suddenly flooded him: he turned, bowed his head, and let out a huge roar.
“Sorry for stealing it (Player of the Match award) from Jaddu, I wanted to make a big contribution,” he would say later. “I have had a few fifties in World Cups, haven’t really converted (he had two World Cup hundreds before this match – one each against Pakan and Bangladesh). I just wanted to finish off the game this time around and hang around till the end which is what I have done over the years.”
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Now that staying till the end is returning, as he wished, the signature Kohli shot – the brutal bottom-hand powered swat-flick with which he drags even outside-off deliveries from pacers to the legside boundary – that has gone missing for some time, can perhaps be expected to make a comeback as well.
Going his form and rhythm in his 103 not out from 97 balls, the reappearance of one of the memorable strokes in modern-day cricket can’t be that far away.
However, these days, Kohli has had other pressing matters. His focus has been on another shot. Kohli has got out twice to pull shots in the World Cup.

A few minutes before the toss, he was at the batting net – in Pune, it’s all out on the main ground in full public view – practising his pull. With a support-staff member throwing him throat-high balls, he whacked pulls into the net on the legside. It wasn’t mimicking the actual short balls; they weren’t bounced but tossed straight and it was more about getting his bat-swing right for the shot.
Even when he waited in the dugout for his turn to bat, the pundits on television were talking about Kohli and the pull shot. He muttered under his breath and flashed a knowing smile as the split-screen images of pull shots from him and Rohit Sharma were displayed on the big screen. He knew the television game being played. After twice cutting to him, when the cameras returned, he put his helmeted head down and stayed in the pose for a while.
Signature knock
When he went out to bat, ironically after Rohit had pulled straight to deep square-leg, he copped a few short ones. It led to one iffy moment when he tried to fetch a Mustafizur Rehman bouncer from outside off, and miscued it tamely but safely to the untenanted short mid-on region. He didn’t have any issues with the other short balls – often swaying away, and once crunching to the midwicket boundary.
As always, Kohli played the situation perfectly. In the absence of Hardik Pandya, he knew there was no use playing to the gallery, and instead focused on sewing up the chase without much flutter. Especially after the openers and Shreyas Iyer fell, going for maximums.

Kohli had got off to an unusually frenetic start courtesy a couple of free hits offered Hasan Mahmud that he duly looted 10 runs off. From then on, it was like watching a re-run of Kohli knocks – the pulsating running, the pinging of the gaps, the working of the angles, and the smarts to know which bowler to target and when.Most Read
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A couple of chances came his way to unfurl the swat-flick – a full toss that he couldn’t quite snap his wrs on as violently as before. There was a whipped six, though off a slower one off Mahmud, who had bounced out Rohit. The bottom hand kicked in and the mutant form of the flick sent the white ball flying over wide long-on; but the swat-flick fans won’t count it as they have been used to seeing the shot against pacy deliveries far too often.
But perhaps it’s all par for the course for Kohli at this stage in his career – fewer risks, unless the situation demands adrenalin-infused shots of doom.
It is bad news for the bowlers. Kohli has turned back the clock, finishing games, and the brutal swat-flick too seems round the corner. Then the Kohli re-run will be really on.