With a blistering T20I rebirth, Virat Kohli throws off a decade of baggage. Indore as a potential World Cup host?

Virat Kohli wants to play in the T20 World Cup, and he will go to great lengths to make it happen in the West Indies and the United States.

Virat Kohli, who smashed 50 off 40 balls against England in the T20 World Cup semifinals, and the Virat Kohli who appeared yesterday night at the Holkar Stadium were two different batsmen. Adelaide’s Kohli is long gone. Kohli’s dictionary no longer contains words like accumulator and anchor, which used to bother him. You say slow versus spin? Nuh uh. Not any longer. Consider what he did to Mujeeb-ur-Rahman on Sunday evening. A slog sweep is followed by an inside-out chip. He hit a strike rate of above 250 and scored 18 runs off seven balls. The stage had been set. Early wicket was dropped. India is on the run, and its master is inside. Kohli was expected to act like Kohli. Take a look, and play himself in.

WRONG! Indore brought something new to the table. Kohli faced 16 balls, blasted 29 with a strike rate of 181, and was dismissed. Is this the same player who struggled to a half-century in his previous T20I 14 months ago? In the same way he dragged himself out of the abyss in 2022. After all, this is Kohli, whom the legendary Clive Lloyd endorsed just two days ago to ‘accomplish whatever he wants to’. And, based on how he delighted the audience last night, his message is clear. He’s coming for that T20 World Cup trophy in five months, and nothing will stop him.