It was the fifth delivery of the 15th over, and Virat Kohli flicked it off his pads towards the midwicket region, his first boundary in 50 balls. He repeated the same shot off the next ball to end an exhilarating hour of play where Australia threatened to wrest back control of the game after an insipid batting display.
For the first 90 balls of the Indian chase, no one stood. Chepauk was silent. So much so that one could hear the waves crashing at the Marina beach. However, these two shots got them up. The crowd needed to hydrate, after sweating, not because of the hot conditions in Chennai, but because the situation was such.
From 2/3 in two overs, Kohli and KL Rahul brought the chaos to an end, and it took them an hour to do so. 49/3.
‘Badass’ entry
Ishan Kishan edged his first ball in an ODI World Cup to the first slip. It was the first over, and a familiar tune (from the upcoming movie Leo) reverberated across the stands. Was it Thalapathy Vijay? No. Kohli – the ‘Badass!’
Kohli saw his captain Rohit Sharma and number four Shreyas Iyer fall in the same over. Rahul walked in and the duo punched gloves.
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What followed was an hour where every single run was cheered, and every solid defence earned them respect. The crowd tried to get involved in whatever way they could do. Just like every run and every dot, every single clap mattered. Kohli ran fast and whenever he wanted to take that risky double, the crowd screamed “no” before Rahul could.
Slow and steady
Ahead of the game, what happened during it was not something the duo planned or trained for. For the most part, the batters smacked the white Kookaburra as hard as they could in the nets. Rahul hit reverse sweeps, and ramp shots, while Kohli charged down the track to bowlers and hit them over covers.
However, here, the soft hands came into play. A late cut towards deep third was worth more than a picturesque scoop and the two experienced batters did just that.
Kohli reached his fifty in 75 balls while Rahul took 72.
With each run, Chepauk became louder. With each boundary, the crowd eased. With each ball that didn’t result in a wicket, India inched closer to a win. Chants of ‘Kohli’ and ‘Rahul’ echoed around the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
When Kohli was finally caught on 85, there was a wave of sadness – for Kohli’s missed ton, for a fallen Indian wicket. But the crowd rose to its feet appreciating the master as he pulled India out of a nightmare – with the help of Rahul – to put the team on the brink of victory that had seemed like a distant dream a couple of hours ago.
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