PERTH: Virat Kohli’s innings against Pakistan was close to being a ‘song of god’, the literal translation of ‘Bhagvad Gita’, and has legitimised T20 cricket as an “art form”, feels Australian legend Greg Chappell.
Kohli’s knock floored Pakistan in India’s T20 World Cup opener and Chappell had no hesitation in avowing that the former skipper is the “most complete Indian batsman” of his time.
“The Bhagavad Gita is the holy book which is the synthesis of Hinduism. Literally translated, it means “the song by God”. Kohli played an innings that was as close to a ‘song by god’ as has ever been played in T20 cricket,” Chappell wrote in his column for the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’.
The 74-year-old pointed out that Kohli’s aggressive knock took the art of batting to another level and has actually legitimised the T20 cricket as an art form.
The purists love Test cricket while the T20 format is considered and promoted as the slam-bang style of the game where the batters throw their willow at every ball.
“Like a cat playing with a new skein of wool, Kohli teased then expertly picked apart an excellent Pakistan bowling attack until it lay unravelled, spent and exposed on the green carpet of the MCG.”
“….It was an innings that showcased the art of batting like no other that I have seen in a lifetime of watching cricket.
“Ironically, it was also the innings that legitimised T20 cricket as, dare I say it, an art form, more than any that I have seen in the past 15 years. Nobody can dismiss T20 cricket as simply entertainment ever again,” wrote the former India coach.
“None of the greats of bygone eras could have dismembered of an opponent so brutally without compromising the niceties of the art of batting than Kohli did last Sunday night.”
Kohli is complete batsman
“Kohli is the most complete Indian batsman of my time. Only the greatest of champions has the courage and the intelligence to transport their imagination beyond the mortal plane. Kohli has that.
“Perhaps only Tiger Pataudi has come close to transcending a similar stratosphere,” Chappell wrote.
—PTI

Press Trust of India