Virat Kohli is a son of Delhi but, at 3pm on Saturday, as the ball burst through the hands of a diving Ben Stokes at cover and the India captain scampered through for a single, the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai erupted in a way that suggested adoption papers from the city may soon be forthcoming.
Here was Kohli, the bristling embodiment of a confident modern India, notching his 15th Test century and celebrating in fitting fashion. The leap in the air, the swift removal of the helmet, the circling of the bat to all parts of this cricketing colosseum: for a brief moment, as the near-capacity crowd rose, a sport that continues to attract angst over its future felt in remarkably rude health.
His was an innings touched with genius and one that has likely snuffed out any faint hopes England had of squaring the series too, with Kohli sitting 147 not out by the close on day three and India 451 for seven, with their lead, on a red-soil pitch begging for accurate spin-bowling (not four seamers), 51.
It was laced with personal milestones. When he pulled Stokes through midwicket in the 69th over it was 1,000 Test runs for the year, the first Indian batsman since Rahul Dravid in 2011. When he whipped Jimmy Anderson for a single in the 75th it was 4,000 for his Test career. When Moeen Ali was clipped into the leg side in the 99th, he moved past Joe Root’s 2,399 international runs across all formats in 2016.
Not everyone cares for combined statistics, but this latter one feels significant in that, like Root, he dominates all three without any discernible difference in his methods, doing so through liquid footwork and orthodoxy in technique. Only occasionally is it interspersed with sheer brutality, such as when he pumped a tired Adil Rashid down the ground late in the piece to take his average past 50 for the first time in 52 Tests.
If his aggression is situation-sensitive in the longest form – at one stage he went 29 overs between boundaries – then his dominant approach remains a constant. Kohli has long learned to cope with expectation, such was the case when he strode out to the crease to face the third ball of the morning to loud cheers of his name, which made the stunned silence that met Cheteshwar Pujara’s ill-judged leave only fleeting.
Just once in his six hours in the middle did Kohli’s crystal-clear vision of the Matrix become blurred, as a return catch was offered to Rashid on 68 but duly squandered by the leg-spinner. It was a sliding doors moment not just for England but the partisan crowd as a whole who, following the injury to Ajinkya Rahane find themselves cheering on an India Test side without a Mumbai batsmen for the first time.
Kohli’s appeal in India goes beyond local loyalties, having long since moved into the space of hallowed, unquestioned admiration as was previously occupied by Sachin Tendulkar. Not that the Little Master has departed it, as demonstrated by the messages of love from his home supporters that were beamed onto the big screen throughout the day on the anniversary of his first-class debut here in 1988, aged 15.
They feels worlds apart as Indian icons, however. While Tendulkar was serene in disposition, scarcely played at anything approaching controversy outside his off stump and was chiefly eye-catching only with bat in hand, Kohli is always intense, is obsessive in his fitness, always fields like a man possessed and is very often on the wind-up too.
One such example came late in the day when his opposite number, Alastair Cook, tried a review only to find both had already been burned. Where Tendulkar would likely have remained within his personal bubble, Kohli went the other way, mocking Cook with a mimicked gesture and cackle. Cocky? Perhaps. But this compelling sporting personality could be what keeps the fire of Test cricket in India burning for some time yet.
