Storms crossed, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli gear up for second wind - The Indian Express

The sullen sun over the Greenfield Stadium had sunk when Virat Kohli sashayed down the practice pitch and dispatched a net bowler’s stingless half-volley over his head. The ball crashed onto water bottles piled on the edge of the boundary ropes, sparking a chorus of excitement from the impatient onlookers. After the nets wrapped up, the bowler frantically searched for the ball, which he eventually found, and slipped it into his bag.

Only half the eye was transfixed on Kohli; the rest was dutifully on Rohit Sharma, who batted with the second batch after a brief rain interruption.

Sharma’s freshly unwrapped willow unsheathed a straight drive so perfect in concept, balance, flourish, and placement that it narrowly eluded a wheelbarrow placed near the edge of the boundary line. A cover drive clanked onto the base of a pole. The nets here hug the centre pitch, which gives the illusion of a real game.

Between the two last superstars of a format hurtling into irrelevance, a spate of others in their soaked blue kits performed their acts, but with less or even little attention. A nod there, a wink here, before their eyes wandered to Kohli and Sharma. Perhaps, they knew this too. That the build-up to the World Cup next year would be an extended farewell stretch for the biggest surviving superstars of the format.

Their sightings are rare and precious. Kohli stays in London, flies home largely to fulfil IPL and ODI commitments. Similarly aligned are Sharma’s career engagements, even though his public appearances are more frequent. Recently, he started anchoring an entertainment show in Hindi and sprinkled his earthy humour. They would never escape from the public eye. But this is what the crowd wants — them in their original sanctuary, batting with joy and filling watchers with joy, enjoying and letting those around them enjoy too. They soaked every move, for two full hours, lost in an immersive, nonverbal discourse, between the deities and devotees. Seize the day, there aren’t many left.

In some ways, Kohli and Sharma embody not only two of the greatest 50-over cricketers, but the last lingering vestiges of the ODI-romance; relics of a time when the format was king, before cricket lost itself in the exponential leap of its youngest progeny and plunged the elder sibling into mid-life crisis. Tickets were sold out in less than half an hour, the administrators claim, and the truth behind it was as plain as sunlight. The overpowering allure of the Kohli-Sharma tango.

Even at 37 and 39, they still furnish reasons to enjoy their game. They turn even a routine nets session into an event worthy of gate fees. Sharma’s spot was briefly hitting a roadblock, but he de-stung the critics with a hundred at Lord’s. Kohli seldom ever has offered a toehold for doubters to sharpen their swords on him. If anything, since being a single-format proposition, he has racked up hundreds for fun, composing three in his last 10 outings. In five of those, he posted half-centuries including a 93 as well. The city would remember his last date with it — when he shellacked an unbeaten 166 against Sri Lanka.

Both batted without ado. Kohli was Sharma-like in his early riffing. He stepped out frequently, and once savagely biffed Kuldeep Yadav over mid-wicket. The best was yet to be — a straight-driven six off Naman Dhir. The tempo never dropped, even though he miscued a few lifter from Prasidh Krishna, bending his back and revving up pace.

When Sharma’s turn came, he batted without fuss, instructing Krishna to bang short at him, preparing perhaps for the slippery bounce or West Indies quick Shamar Joseph.

Fascinating subplots intertwine the central theme of the stalwarts’ autumnal bloom. Mohammed Siraj would hope to rekindle his rhythm at a venue that sparks pleasant memories; Kuldeep Yadav seeks a renaissance in a format he has featured most often for his country, and where he is unsuspiciously masterful; Nitish Reddy aspires to build on his surge against Afghanistan, emerging as both an alternative and competition to Hardik Pandya; Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dhruv Jurel and Yashasvi Jaiswal could be plotting blockbuster outings that could keep their names dance on the selectors’ lips; Prasidh and Auqib Nabi know that the country’s fast bowling stock is as volatile as the stock market; a nudge away from boom or bust. As the series unfolds, the corollaries could potentially flesh out into narratives of standalone value.

But in India’s first training session ahead of the West Indies series, the gaze remained firmly on two greats of the format shining brightly under the twilight skies, raging stoically against the dying lights.

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