(Cover) Drive.

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You know when he is on the field. Whether it be at 2nd slip "ooh"ing even when the ball missed the bat comfortably, or riling up the crowd before every ball is delivered. Watching a test match with him on the field is proper box office: every ball is an event, and you cannot take your eyes off the screen.

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No one saw it coming. In the middle of a test series down under, the incumbent stepped down and retired. Thrust into captaincy, the new captain only had one thing in mind: win. Trying to chase 360 against Australia? Even the most optimistic fan wouldn't have seen that coming. But his logic was simple: "only if we try, we can know na?". 

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Test cricket is, at its heart, a bowler's game. It doesn't matter that your batting lineup is star-studded, if you cannot take 20 wickets a match, you simply cannot win. No one understood this more than him. From the ill-advised Karn Sharma selection, to playing four tailenders in the team, no matter the conditions, no matter the situation, every decision was taken with one goal in mind : pick 20 wickets.

He changed the culture. Everyone heard it when he said "For 60 overs, they should feel like hell out there". No longer was winning away from home a surprise. By the time he left, it almost became a demand. 

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Drive. Whenever I watch him bat, that's the word that comes to mind. No, not his cover drive (although it is really pleasing to the eye), but his drive to be better, in his own unique way. He wasn't as technically sound as Tendulkar (who is?), nor was he as able to grind down attacks like Dravid. What he lacked in skill and technique, however, he made up for it and ten times over in his willingness to overcome any challenge thrown his way. 

My favourite anecdote about his batting is about the time he was repeatedly caught lacking against the moving ball in the summer of '14. Traditionally, the later you intercept the ball, the better chance you have of countering the swing (just ask Steve Smith). Kohli, however, does not do tradition. In a response that is all-too-Kohli, he decides to take the challenge (literally) on the front foot. Always determined to face anything thrown at him head-on, come what may.

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To be successful, you have to delude yourself. You have to believe you are the best, even if it is not true. For a long time, he convinced us that he was not deluded. That he was the best. His performances proved it. 

As his test career winded down, however, the game had caught up to him. Inspired by his leadership, every country began producing more result-oriented pitches. Batting averages went plummeting down, and he was the most high profile victim of this strategy. Forever the team man, he decided to step aside when he realised he could no longer will his way through it.

Go well, VK. Thank you for Perth 2015, for England 2021, and everything in between. Test cricket is forever indebted to you.

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