<
        >

          The Sachinisation of Kohli

          • Nitin SundarApr 6, 2014, 06:33 PM
            Close
              Social media manager Nitin spent his formative years perfecting the art of landing the googly, before blossoming into a book-cricket specialist. More excellence followed in the underarm version of the game before, like the majority of India's misguided youth, he started taking studies seriously. After four forgettable years of electrical engineering, followed by a rigorous MBA and 16 months in the strategy consulting industry, he began to ponder life's more profound issues. Such as the angle made by Brian Lara's bat with the horizontal at the peak of his back-lift. A move to ESPNcricinfo followed and Nitin is now a prolific nurdler in office cricket, with a questionable technique against the short ball.

          If it's an ICC tournament final, rain worries are always around the corner.

          Thankfully the rain cleared up without reducing the length of the game.

          Of course, all eyes were on the retiring legends. They'd been on the wrong side of four ICC finals. Fifth time lucky?

          Remember the toss shenanigans at the 2011 World Cup final?

          Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl. That immediately ruled out one eventuality.

          If the final were a style contest, only one team could have won.

          India got off to a nervous start. Ajinkya Rahane threw it away early, while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli knocked it around. Sri Lanka were nervous too, with Lasith Malinga missing a run out chance with a tough throw to the bowler.

          It got worse for Malinga, when he dropped the in-form batsman, Virat Kohli, at midwicket.

          ESPN brought the game to the American populace, by showing it live on the ESPN2 channel.

          Just as India looked set to turn it on, Rohit Sharma popped a catch to Sachithra Senanayake in the covers.

          That was the opening Sri Lanka wanted. India sent in Yuvraj Singh, and his scratchy innings cost them plenty.

          Kohli carried on where from where he left off in the semi-final.

          Yuvraj struggled. And then struggled some more. Dhoni and Raina were stuck on the bench, waiting for a chance.

          ---twitter---
          Yuvraj's struggled ended at 11 off 21 balls, when he holed out in the 19th over from Nuwan Kulasekara.

          ---twitter------twitter------twitter---
          Sri Lanka needed 131, and though India fought hard on the field, it was their game to lose.

          ---twitter---
          Kusal Perera perished early, and India removed Tillakaratne Dilshan cheaply too, caught smartly by Kohli on the boundary.

          ---twitter------twitter------twitter------twitter---
          Sri Lanka ticked along calmly as India sought to separate the stalwarts.

          ---twitter------twitter---
          Jayawardene gave India some hope by swiping straight to midwicket.

          ---twitter------twitter---
          Right on cue, Dhoni took a remarkable catch off the toe-end off Lahiru Thirimanne's bat.

          ---twitter---
          Sri Lanka promoted Thisara Perera ahead of Angelo Mathews.

          ---twitter------twitter------twitter------twitter---
          India's challenge wilted in the face of some big hits from both Sangakkara and Thisara.

          ---twitter---
          Thisara wrapped up the win with a couple of big hits off R Ashwin. Cue - jubilant celebrations in the Sri Lankan camp. Disappointment for India fans?

          ---twitter------twitter---
          Ah, the sour grapes routine.

          ---twitter------twitter------twitter------twitter------twitter---
          It was a fairly emotional presentation ceremony, with Sangakkara winning Man of the Match award. Kohli took the Player of theTournament gong.

          ---twitter------twitter------twitter---
          Five different winners in five editions of the World T20. Who's going to win the next one?

          ---twitter---
          So it came to be, that two of the nicest champions in the game got a fitting farewell from the shortest format of the game.

          ---twitter------twitter---