India vs Australia: Virat Kohli obsession could cost visitors the way it did in the Test series

Steve Smith and his boys had triumphed in the Chittagong Test last week. Victory should ensure an upbeat mood, but this win was more of a face-saver than a milestone to celebrate. Because, though Bangladesh are a formidable side at home now, Smith would not have wanted his name etched in the annals of Australian cricket as the first captain of his country to have suffered a series loss in Bangladesh.

So, Smith huffed and puffed his way to Bangladesh’s neighbours — India — with a group of his teammates from the Test side on Saturday. Out here, Smith and his boys are braced for a battle in coloured clothing. A change in format should have carried some relief along for the Australians after they managed to crawl out of the quicksand in Bangladesh. Instead, it stands under the looming shadow of one Virat Kohli.

Kohli was always destined for greatness. But he has of late been in the kind of form where he plunders runs for his sadistic pleasure. If he continues along the same vein, it could be fatal for bowlers across the globe. And the devastation he causes could classify his batting as R-rated.

The Indian captain’s blade had been sharpened after the havoc wreaked on Sri Lankan bowlers with two centuries and as many scores in the 80s in the six limited-overs games recently. The beast in him now waits to feast on the visiting Australians. And, the visitors know it. In fact, that concern has popped out of their sub-conscious and laid itself bare for Kohli to smell.

Hours after they had arrived in India, Smith spoke about the threat Kohli carries, about the need to restrict Kohli and about how Kohli could decide the series. Basically, Smith spoke about Kohli.

“I’m not too concerned about my differences with Virat. He has a phenomenal record in ODIs (30 hundreds) and is obviously going to be dangerous. Hopefully we can keep him quiet as much as possible. If we do that, then hopefully that can help us go a long way in having some success on this tour,” said the Australian captain, who clearly had Kohli on his mind, and here he spoke of how much importance he attached to his Indian counterpart.

For a moment, it almost felt as if the tourists had come over to go to battle against Kohli alone. Eleven Australians against Kohli.

The reigning world champions did that earlier in the year when they visited India for the four-Test series. All their energies and strategies were focused towards the master plan that would derail Kohli.

“He is the head of the snake, to put it in Dale Steyn’s terms, and if you can take that, the body will fall away. It was pretty pleasing to take Virat’s wicket,” were Nathan Lyon’s words while Australia were in the process of dismantling Kohli part-by-part — on the field and in the mind — during the Test tour.

And, succeed they did. The same Kohli, who almost always is a bowlers’ nightmare, could not muster more than 46 runs in three Tests. His tally was lesser than that of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Even Karun Nair, who was in the middle of a horror run with the bat himself, outscored Kohli. That Mitchell Starc had scored almost triple the runs in just two Tests highlighted how efficiently Australia had plotted Kohli’s downfall. They had conquered their biggest threat.

Australia had won the battle. But they had lost the war. An injured Kohli had even missed the decider in Dharamsala, but Australia lost the game and with it the series. Though they had got the head of the snake, the snake still had enough venom in it to come back and sting.

And if the initial vibe of the one-day leg is an indication, the Australians appear to have exposed themselves to the possibility of another bite after Smith had put the focus back on Kohli the moment he stepped on to Indian soil last week.

Kohli is a monster of a different pedigree in the shorter forms of the game, and may warrant that kind of attention. Australia may also have their plans in place, and could perform an encore by silencing the Indian skipper once again. But that in the process could leave them vulnerable to attacks from the other members of the Indian team, the ones who don’t make as much noise.

Kohli’s teammates, whom Australia don’t perceive to be in the same category of threats as the batting superstar from Delhi, have silently been preparing for their attack.

Hours before Smith’s Kohli-laden first interaction with the media on arrival, Ajinkya Rahane posted a clip of himself training in the gym on Twitter with a caption that read: “Never an off day: getting ready for the next challenge ‪#INDvAUS‬‬‬.”

Rahane is India’s third opener in the current one-day set-up. Six years since his debut, he still spends more time on the bench than on the pitch. Yet, there is no lack of motivation as he trains on a day, when the team can afford to relax. And, he tells the world, Australia specifically, why he has chosen to train over a day of relaxation with the hashtag in the tweet.

It was a message from Rahane that epitomised India’s preparedness. India was getting ready for the next challenge too. Jasprit Bumrah went for a run and trained in the gym, Shikhar Dhawan —  who will miss the first three one-dayers due to personal reasons — urged his teammates to take the Australians down after the team was announced, Hardik Pandya was off for a run at the MCA’s facility in BKC, Mumbai, and the list went on.

Yet when the teams step out at the M Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday, Kohli will take the field with a form that is as lethal as ever. But if the Australians continue to narrow their focus on the Indian captain alone, they risk being raided by the rest of the Indian team, and going down the same lane as they did earlier this year.