With Virat Kohli, there can’t be any point left to debate unless you drill for one. No one chases better, yes, but is he equally assertive while setting up totals? The caught-outside-off-stump dismissals earn separate life cycles in Tests while T20s too can give them some traction. And at times it seems he takes it all upon himself when he doesn’t need to. Rohit Sharma may have taken the plunge by going for reverse sweeps but in this culture war with the T20 brand of batsmanship, expect Kohli to embrace the slog sweep at best.

Much of this chatter stems from confusion over the expanse of Kohli’s role, or its points of reference. But it may not be incorrect to surmise that in this age of role specialisation to the minutest detail, Kohli manages to keep it lucid by just doing whatever it takes. As a result, he weaves into every successful innings a reassurance and security needed in cricket's least understood format. He has done it at No.3 as well as opener. But 2024 has been a whole new experience, in that it has unearthed an aggressive side of Kohli witnessed only once before — in 2016.

Comparing 2016 and 2024 draw strikingly similar results. The strike rates (152.03 in 2016 and 154.7 in 2024) aren’t much different, neither is the highest score (113). But freakish is the similarity in the number of sixes hit — 38. Now, the Kohli of 2024 is vastly different from that of 2016. The agility, though top-notch, must be taking a hit because of age. The absence of a title in IPL as well as international cricket was weighing heavier on him than ever. More telling was Kohli’s absence from the India line-up for all of 2023, fanning rumours that the much-awaited transition had already begun.

To keep all of that at bay while churning runs can’t be easy. Especially when the circumstances hadn’t changed much at RCB. Creaking issues with top-heavy batting and a bowling unit thin on experience seemed to almost sink RCB, till they bounced back to almost reach the final. Fuelling that response in part was Kohli, who again topped the season with 741 runs. While it was still over 200 runs short of Kohli’s record haul (973 runs) eight years ago, a crucial difference lies in the spike in percentage of runs coming from sixes. In 2016, it was 23%. In 2024, that rose to 30%, almost a third of what he aggregated.

These are significant numbers. Primarily because it debunks the myth that Kohli can be old-fashioned at times. Which isn’t entirely untrue because what he brings by way of caution is the common sense needed to calmly chip away at a target instead of going ballistic and putting unnecessary pressure on the batters to come. But underpinning Kohli’s change of approach this time are the 24 (out of 38) sixes he hit batting first in this IPL, which translated into a fifth of his first innings runs. Add to it the fours (34) and that percentage swells to 48.9%, nearly half of Kohli’s first-innings scores.

These are intimidating numbers, flying in the face of the argument that Kohli can’t be assertive while batting first. Or that spinners can still do a number on him. To that, Kohli had this to say during this IPL: “All the people who talk about strike rates and me not playing spin well are the ones who love talking about this stuff. But for me, it’s just about winning the game for the team.” Unwrapping that response to polarising effect is tempting, but it also felt like a self-validating reply when Kohli was in the process of reinventing himself. Kohli knew what he was doing, only that we had to wait till the end of IPL to properly analyse his returns.

That Kohli can open or bat at No.3 isn’t news, but every time a World Cup is around the corner, it assumes a revelatory take. His intelligence in reading a situation too is second to none. However, Kohli’s new-found verve in six-hitting stands out ahead of the T20 World Cup, a tournament where he averages one six per game. The bowling quality in the World Cup is expected to be more refined than in IPL, but this intent Kohli brings in holds rich promise. In the twilight of his career, possibly playing his last-ever World Cup, can Kohli do an encore?

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