Smarter, clearer, swifter

Virat Kohli was one of the first to walk in for the player headshots photo session, for the World Cup broadcaster, on Friday morning at the team hotel in Bangalore. Dressed in a dark t-shirt and knee-length shorts, he had a light stubble and the sort of designer crop teenagers sport these days. Still, there was also a business-like demeanour about him as he walked in with an English daily newspaper tucked under his arm.

Later, during the media interaction, Kohli's answers were clear, vivid and elaborate. He was not afraid to talk about his past mistakes, which he says he has corrected, nor was he shy to speak about the progress he has made.

Sitting next to him was Suresh Raina, listening intently to his younger team-mate. It seemed as if Kohli was the older of the two. Raina, too, will be playing his first World Cup but he has been in the ODI business for six years. In comparison Kohli, with three years in international cricket, already seems far more settled, more assured and possessed of more clarity of purpose.

Two years older, Raina seems short of having gained the same sort of fluency. At times he seems to be stuck, fighting the doubts he had four years ago. This has allowed Kohli to take centre stage. While Raina fights with Yusuf Pathan for a place in the lower order, Kohli has become a strong contender to play at No. 3, posing a threat even to Gautam Gambhir, whose absence in the recent South Africa series allowed Kohli to strut his stuff.

Though he did not score a century in the tight series, which South Africa won 3-2, he notched up two fifties. India lost those two games while chasing, but Kohli's scores were the highest for the side, and he seems to have built something of a reputation as a go-to man in a chase. In the 27 innings where India have batted second, Kohli averages 59.85, at a strike rate of nearly 84. Three of his four centuries have been logged while chasing, and his 118 against Australia last year, his personal best, proved he could pace the innings in the middle overs, where a batsman can neither take his foot off the pedal or press down on it too hard.

In 2010 he was India's most improved cricketer. He was also the most sound Indian ODI batsman, technique-wise, in South Africa, where he handled extreme pace, swing, seam and bounce from Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe with aplomb. He did not succeed always, but there never was the visible vulnerability that Raina continues to show against short balls at high speeds.

"It is all about looking in the face of the opposition and not getting bogged down by them," says Kohli. "They might be the best bowlers in the world but if you are confident of your ability, you can succeed. It is about believing in your ability and having trust and confidence in what you are going to do out there. So that really gives a different message to the opponent - that you are there to compete and perform and they have to earn the wicket."

The growth chart
Kohli's turnaround is a remarkable story. Immediately after he captained the India Under-19 side to the World Cup title in Malaysia in 2008, he seemed a brash youngster who, having tasted victory, was more interested in the spoils and the fame. Cricket experts were apprehensive the paint would peel off quickly on Kohli's talent. An official present the day after India's victory against South Africa in Kuala Lumpur recollects how at a photo shoot for one of the main sponsors, Kohli was glued to the phone. "I could hear him talk about how much money the BCCI had announced as bonus." Then the IPL happened.

"That cocky image was evident," says a team-mate at Royal Challengers Bangalore about Kohli in the first IPL. It was a disappointing tournament and Kohli finished with 165 runs at 15 from 13 matches.

A few months later, in the domestic season opener between Delhi and the Rest of India, he was an easy target for the opposition. "Munaf [Patel] got him out for fun. Virat had no clue against the bouncer. People were laughing at him," recollects one Rest of India player. Kohli scored just 20 in the match. The bubble had burst.

Kohli then went into a phase of introspection and walked out with some answers and a new-found maturity. First he admitted he was going wrong. The next step was rehabilitation, and he applied himself to it. Cricket became his central focus.

He was among the top five batsmen for Bangalore at the end of the second IPL, held in South Africa. He worked hard in domestic cricket, became more responsible in the Delhi dressing room, and started to enjoy his game once again.

Looking back now at the transition, Kohli says identifying the errors was critical. "I think I have learnt from my mistakes and that has been my main goal."

The other factor that played in his favour was that the Indian team management, MS Dhoni and Gary Kirsten, supported him and belived in him. "I was given more responsibility of batting up the order [for India], and I realised I had a good chance of playing longer innings if I applied myself more. These are the few changes I have tried to make in my game. I was really happy the way I controlled myself when I felt like playing a rash shot and actually didn't."

Kohli was happy to share a couple of the errors that he felt were unnecessary but helped him become a better batsman. "I played a few rash shots and some of the important matches earlier. One was against Pakistan in Champions Trophy. I was set and the situation demanded me to keep going but I played a rash shot. The other was against Australia in Baroda. I was batting on 30 and again I played a rash shot, I got out and the team was in trouble. These were the really big mistakes on my part because these were really important matches in the context of series and tournament and that's why I decided not to commit those mistakes and carry on." In the first match, India needed 178 from the remaining 29 overs with Rahul Dravid in good form, but they failed to maintain the momentum. Though he was not entirely to be blame for the four-run defeat against Australia, Kohli's admission is an acknowledgement of the fact that how he was thinking about the team and not himself.

"The people in the team, seniors all of them told me I should have played a better shot in the situation, and told me I would learn with time. That helped me to some extent but it was upto me to correct those mistakes," he speaks on the period where he was searching for a remedy. Even outsiders started observing the changes in Kohli. "He had learned from mistakes and he never repeated those mistakes, which is one of the signs of a good player," an Indian player who has played alongside the Delhi-ite says. "He parties hard, and plays hard," is the view of another IPL teammate.

Kohli's new outlook is evident in training sessions, where he is intense and focused. On the first two days in Bangalore, Kirsten and Dhoni worked on his body position and anticipation during the fielding drills, while Sachin Tendulkar worked on his bat-swing coming down straighter, which could help enhance his control over his strokes.

Kohli is considered by many to be India's best fielder. "When Gary hits those balls to point and covers, we try and enjoy every session and we try and bring out the best while enjoying," he says. "I think fielding is all about enjoying, and if you take more pressure you tend to make mistakes. The kind of places we field in, it's all about anticipation, and if you are too nervous you won't be able to anticipate. So it is all about being relaxed and wanting the ball to come to you."

Kohli may have just started sharpening his cricketing intellect, but already he displays a natural grasp of the game - to the extent that many believe he is captaincy material. Listen, for instance, to him talk about why batsman like to chase: "I think not only me, all cricketers concentrate a lot more under pressure. While chasing you have set target and plan your innings, like when to accelerate and when to have a period when you are happy with singles and doubles and the odd boundary."

It is not certain that Kohli will find a berth in the playing XI, but he is keeping himself ready if called upon to play his maiden senior World Cup. "The matches that I have played with the team in the last one and a half years, and the kind of situations I have played in, have really helped," he says. "That has been a learning process. Going into this World Cup I am really confident because of the way I played in those matches."