On Tuesday at Old Trafford, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson will be going head to head for the first time in an ODI World Cup competition. They faced each other in the 2008’s junior edition where Kohli, bowling off the wrong foot, had Kane stumped off a leg side wide, a fact he does not even remember!
Kohli and Kane. They are very much alike: two high performing athletic hirsute men at the helm of their national sides in a Cricket World Cup semifinal. Both as batsmen are at the peak of their powers - the former is No. 1 in the ICC Test Batting rankings while the latter is No. 2. In ODIs, they are No. 1 and No. 8 respectively. They lead their respective IPL franchises, and in the format least suited to their style of batting, they still feature in the Top 20 batsmen in the world. Both of them are linchpins of their side’s batting and have an invisible bullseye painted on them for oppositions know their wicket holds the key to victory.
Yet, they are very different; their batting styles - chalk and cheese. Kane waits to play as close to his body and as late as possible subtly maneuvering the ball into gaps that the fielding side did not think existed, killing the opponents with thousand soft dabs and delicate jabs. Kohli, on the other hand, seems to be driven by an inner desire to stamp his batting authority over the proceedings by stroking drives and pulls, each one a knockout punch.
Both Kane and Kohli occupy the vital No. 3 position in their ODI line up managing the responsibilities of being a tourniquet band and as well as a battering ram. They are the anchors of their teams to hold them steady while also being the Energizer bunny of run accumulation.
Hailing from the small North Island town of Tauranga - population under 200,000, Kane personifies the calm and quietness associated with the people of Aotearoa. It is not a surprise that growing up in a metro of more than 20 million, Kohli embodies the brashness of “dilli da munda” (a Delhi boy). While Kane’s standard operating procedure on the field at the fall of a wicket is to clap and jog towards the team huddle, Kohli springs out of his shoes - straining veins, pumping fists and all.
Making an impact
While Kane made his mark in the Test game before mastering the limited over version, Kohli displayed a preternatural ability to construct an ODI chase before becoming a batting master in the longest format. Kane, on his Test debut in Motera, displayed all the skills of a seasoned veteran handling every trick turned by Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha to register a serene 131 off 299 deliveries. The legend of Kohli was established when he took apart one of the greatest ODI bowlers in Lasith Malinga at Hobart to ensure passage of India to the final of the triangular tournament in 2012.
For a player that grew up on seaming tracks, Kane’s ability to play spin stood out early to the observers; nimble footwork and surgeon’s precision with the bat, in addition to remarkable eyes convinced the pros in New Zealand and elsewhere that he was destined for greatness. Shane Bond, the former Kiwi fast bowler and coach, was flabbergasted at the genius of his countryman. “[J]ust working with Tim Southee and working through some variations in the nets up against Kane Williamson, his ability to see what was going on in the hand was staggering. Even I [watching, as the coach] couldn’t see the seam, but Williamson could see the different finger positions and what Tim was trying to do. He could see whether the ball was wobbling, he could tell which way [Southee] was trying to swing it. Maybe that is a mark of a genius. I was staggered by his ability to pick that up so early. Maybe that’s what separates the great players from the not-so-great.”
Kohli raised on slow and low pitches of the subcontinent indicated a predilection towards pitches in the southern hemisphere. Equipped with the essential tools of all batting maestros, Kohli relished the opportunity to drive on the up and unleash horizontal bat shots on fast and bouncy wickets. While his maiden century at Adelaide in 2012 made him a regular in the Test side, he left an indelible mark during his subsequent trip Down Under unleashing four centuries.
One of the lasting images of Kane’s defiance as a batting great was established in a rearguard action for the ages after his abdomen guard was broken by this generation’s greatest fast bowler Dale Steyn. When he got up and got on with it after being hit on the head on the first ball he faced in the series by the most fearsome quick of his time, Mitchell Johnson, it encapsulated Kohli’s. Kane weathered a brutal assault from the South African pacers on the final day of that Test to eke out a draw while Kohli’s audacious attack on the final day at Melbourne fell short of an unlikely target.
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While the machine-like efficiency of Kohli has been the epitome of run scoring, Kane has been the living breathing version of a batting manual. Each of them is guaranteed a spot in the batting pantheon of their respective nations, and now, they are to face other in a “must win” match at Manchester.
In this World Cup, India have not had to rely heavily on Kohli’s bat with his deputy Rohit Sharma unfurling five centuries, although even while playing second fiddle, Kohli still has 442 runs at 63.14. However, it’s been “Kane or bust” for New Zealand. The Blackcaps reliance on their skipper is evident from the share of run-scoring that Kane has had to deliver, 30% - the highest for any player. He shepherded his side in tight chases against Bangladesh and South Africa, and set the game up against West Indies. Every single one of his 481 runs - scored at a tournament leading average of 96.20 - has been vital for his side to squeeze ahead of the resurgent Pakistan on net run rate into the knockout stage.
Each man has been on a cricketing journey since those heady days of Under 19 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur that has seen them rise from precocious teenagers to elderly statesman of their cricket team. While Kohli would love to maintain the “world cup” winning record and book a spot in the final, Kane will be looking for an opportunity to put one across Kohli and it may not be his serene blade but could just be his herky-jerky offspin. Perhaps, even a leg side stumping off a wide.