mid day says: Will the real King Kohli gird up?

Virat Kohli

Six years to the day (December 30, 2018), Virat Kohli led his troops back to the Melbourne Cricket Ground dressing room with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy safely in India's grasp.

The Kohli-led team had beaten Tim Paine's Australians by 137 runs with one Test to go in Sydney.

Kohli was hailed, hoisted and hero worshipped in no small measure for helping India reach the 2-1 margin, which if maintained or bettered, would give India its first Test series win on Australian soil.

It happened with the Sydney Test ending in a draw. History was made, a 71-year wait had ended.

Today, the same Kohli has got tongues wagging. Imaginary axes are being wielded for not only a lack of runs, but also the way he is fishing outside off stump to his doom.

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Kohli may not be in the captain's throne, but he is still the mainstay, still the number one batsman for the opposition to snare. Exciting is his stroke precision but equally exasperating is the manner in which he gets dismissed.

How can one not learn from his mistakes, we ask in unison. Even if we cannot fully relate to that temptation of going for a meaty drive outside off, the pleasure of seeing the ball drill the field and the fact that this is sport, it's still a valid query. There is good reason why we adore our achievers. It's because they possess extraordinary skills and work hard to perfect them. But when they fail to do that, criticism is justified.

Not one factor can be apportioned to India's loss, India's surrender, after going one-up in Perth. But Kohli's indifferent form has to be a big one.

While we acknowledge his unbeaten hundred in the victory Test at Perth, we also saw what happened after that - 7, 11, 3, 36, 5.

And in the midst of these scores, there is Kohli getting himself involved in controversy. No sportsperson deserves to be jeered like he was in Melbourne. But Kohli can help himself here. Ah yes, also at the crease.

If he has not done it yet, he should watch Sachin Tendulkar's double century in the 2003-04 Sydney Test where, for a lot of that innings, the off-side was treated as taboo.

A spirited Kohli can check Australia's 2-1 advantage. A determined Kohli can help significantly in making it 2-2 next Tuesday (or earlier). A driven Kohli can do like he did in 2018-19, the series win which broke Australia's home advantage over India.