Virat Kohli faced 50 legal deliveries in the first Twenty20 International against West Indies in Hyderabad on Friday. For the first 25 of those, he looked like a shadow of his own self. He was slogging hard, he was struggling to convert ones into twos, he was cutting frustrating figure in the middle. He had scored 26 runs in that period with eight dot balls.

The eighth of those dot balls marked the halfway point of his innings: Jason Holder bowled a good length delivery outside off stump and Kohli let it go. Yes, you read that right. The man who calculates every simple aspect of a run-chase actually LET A BALL GO with the required rate beyond 12.00 runs per over. He shot a mean look at the umpire for not calling it a wide but it was well within the tramlines. It was just a case of misjudgment. That it came from Kohli was what made it significant.

But that moment sparked something inside Kohli. Holder went for a bouncer next, and Kohli swung his bat almost in anger (of which, incidentally, plenty was on display on Friday night). The power in the shot was enough to carry the ball over fence for six. The ball after that, more anger from Kohli, this time again directed at the umpire. He felt the full toss should have been called a no ball but it was not, but he had still added four more runs to his name. In the space of three deliveries his strike rate went from 104.00 to 133.33. And simultaneously, the first signs that Kohli was turning things around started to show up.

The one fact that would sum that up: Kohli did not face a single dot ball after letting that one go outside his off-stump.

First 25 balls of Virat Kohli’s innings (26 runs): 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 4 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 1 0 0

Last 25 balls of Virat Kohli’s innings (68 runs): 6 4 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 6 4 2 1 4 6 1 1 1 6 1 1 2 6 2 6 

Once again, at the end of the 14th over, Kohli was caught swearing at himself with some choice words after mistiming a slog to deep midwicket. The strike rate had now picked up, but the striking was not smooth enough. Not to his liking. Not at the level we are used to witnessing from him.

Not yet.

He went to the non-striker’s end with his score reading 44 off 34 balls.

If there was one moment that truly signified that the tide had changed, it came off the first ball off the 15th over. First ball, Jason Holder landed one in the hitting zone for Kohli, but this time the Indian captain did not go for power. He got into position early, the back elbow went up high, the bat came down at speed in a nice arc with the “Genius MRF” sticker in full view: a sensational lofted off drive for six to reach his fifty.

His celebration was a shake of his head that roughly translated to: ‘yes, this is what I should have been doing all along. What was wrong with me earlier.’ Before you realised, Kohli had reached fifty without looking set one bit and still had a strike rate of 142.

On the morning after, the two flicked sixes (one off Kesrick Williams and one off Holder) will be the shots that many remember. And why not, those shots (played in the land of wristy flicks) would have made generations of Hyderabad batsmen proud. But the instance that ball left the bat and reached the second tier to bring up his half century was, arguably, the moment that won the match for India

The night witnessed Kohli go through the whole range of emotions on the field. It was a throwback to his earlier days as a batsman. He complained a lot, he swore a lot: at himself, mostly. But, soon he settled down. Frustration made way for intensity. Anger made way for that signature arrogance in shot-making. And at the end of the night that started in the most un-Kohli-esque fashion, finished with him doing what he does best — making a run-chase look ridiculously easy. That India finished their highest ever-run chase in T20Is with eight balls to spare was purely down to Kohli’s genius.

“All the young batsmen watching don’t follow the first half of my innings. That was really bad and I was trying to hit too hard,” he said after the match, with a self-awareness that makes his interviews (where he talks about his batting especially) a delight these days. “It was just about keeping up to the game because I didn’t want to put KL (Rahul) under pressure, so tried to strike at 140 at least, but I couldn’t get going properly. I analysed what went wrong and played accordingly in the second half of my innings. I was trying to hold my shape and realised I am not a slogger, so tried to rely on my timing.”

Kevin Pietersen, watching on from the broadcaster’s studio, was lost for words to describe that innings. “Out of the world. Freak show,” he said. We have seen special Kohli knocks in the past, but none would have the gulf in quality between the start and end as we saw in Hyderabad.

It’s the true mark of a genius, to triumph even when not having the best of days. And Kohli personified it on the way to his career-best, and perhaps best, T20I innings.