It is one of the most tired clichés in cricket — the man you would have “batting for your life”.
Quite why anyone would leave their fate in the hands of someone wielding an implement just 34-and-a-half inches long and only four-and-a-quarter inches wide could be the subject for a lengthy debate, but suffice to say that Virat Kohli has become that man for millions of Indian cricket fans.
Over the past two weeks, as India’s World Twenty20 campaign stuttered, came to life and then ground to a shell-shocked halt at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, he has enjoyed the sort of adulation once reserved only for Sachin Tendulkar.
And he did so with one quality innings after another.
In the most high-profile game of the competition, watched by millions on either side of the Radcliffe Line, his unbeaten 37-ball 55 was the difference between India and Pakistan. Two matches later, in a game India had no option but to win to make the semi-final, he stroked an unbeaten 82 off 51 balls against Australia at Mohali.
In Mumbai, when MS Dhoni tossed him the ball to bowl the final over — so badly had West Indies’ big hitters mauled the bowling plan — it was almost acceptance of how dependent India had become on Kohli in the big matches.
That he could not deliver should not detract from the fact that his 47-ball 89, after a very shaky start, was another of the innings of the tournament.
With 273 runs, Kohli is 78 runs ahead of Joe Root in the list of highest run-scorers starting from the Super 10 stage.
Things were no different two years ago in Bangladesh, when India romped into the final unconquered, only to come a cropper against a Sri Lankan side with a sense of destiny about them.
Then, Kohli made 72 from 44 balls in the semi-final run chase against South Africa, following in up with a 58-ball 77 in the final.
His compatriots managed just 47 from the other 62 deliveries. That batting meltdown led to Yuvraj Singh (11 from 21 balls) being dropped for a while, but on home turf in 2016, there were far too many underperformers to single out just one.
Dhoni was the second-highest run-maker for India with 89. Rohit Sharma had 88 and Yuvraj 52 from four innings before he turned his ankle. You do not win global events with such paper-thin contributions.
Not even when you have the world’s premier Twenty20 batsman in your side.
In Bangladesh, India had also bowled brilliantly.
Ravichandran Ashwin (11 wickets) and Amit Mishra (10) were among the leading wicket-takers, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled exceptionally tidy spells with the new ball.
In 2016, you have to scan all the way down to 22nd place in the wicket-taker’s list to find India’s leader — Ashish Nehra with five wickets.
Hardik Pandya also took five, but he went at a whopping 10.21 runs an over. India had hoped he would end up having a Ben Stokes-like effect on the side, but for now, his bowling is some way short of international class.
The spinners, who would have been expected to thrive, also failed, with Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja taking just four apiece.
Dew did not help them in Mumbai, and there were mitigating factors in some of the other games, too. But the real difference was the absence of an attacking leg-spinner.
Mishra, after those World Twenty20 heroics in 2014, had two poor Indian Premier League seasons and dropped out of the selectors’ wish list.
For now, Kohli and millions of fans can only reflect on what might have been.
“Thank You for a memorable tournament,” he tweeted on the eve of the final. “Thank You everyone for supporting us & cheering for us relentlessly #IndiaIndia.”
CHANCES SQUANDERED BY MITHALI’S GIRLS
The men could at least console themselves with the thought that they had been overpowered after meeting minimum expectations — a semi-final place. There were no such crumbs of comfort for India’s women, who crashed out after just one win in the group stages.
The Mithali Raj-led team had come into the tournament brimming with confidence, having beaten Australia in Australia (2-1) and then brushed aside Sri Lanka in a series played entirely at Ranchi. But after starting with a comprehensive victory against inexperienced Bangladesh, India were at the wrong end of three narrow defeats against Pakistan, England and West Indies.
In truth, they did not deserve to win any of those matches.
Against Pakistan, they stuttered to seven for two in the six Powerplay overs. Only a late implosion from Pakistan gave them a sniff.
They were similarly pallid with the bat against England at Dharamsala, and they could not chase down 115 to beat West Indies and qualify for the semi-final.
The running between the wickets, especially in the loss to West Indies, was atrocious, with twos repeatedly spurned as the batters jogged from one end to the other. They took most of their catches, but the outfielding was equally unathletic. At least six of the girls had to be hidden in the field, given their sluggish movement and poor throwing arms.
“We’d be really happy being involved in it,” Australia’s captain Meg Lanning said when this correspondent asked her about the possibility of a women’s IPL. “We’ve seen the women’s Big Bash in Australia be very successful, so if there was an IPL to be started, I think it would certainly move the game forward.”
India’s backward steps in their own backyard certainly have not helped.
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