8 runs. For the first time in the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL), Jos Buttler scored in single digits. Before this, his previous lowest was 13 in the fourth game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), coming on the back of 35, 100 and 70 not out. This low-score then came in the eighth game on the back of 54, 103 and 116.
There cannot be a more blatant example of ‘law of averages’ catching up, and for now, it seems to be the only thing with enough power to stop Buttler’s juggernaut. His early dismissal meant Rajasthan Royals had to find other means of winning for a change, and they did. Riyan Parag and the bowlers combined for victory indicating that there is more to Rajasthan than a one-man-Buttler-show, and proved title credentials to anyone who doubted.
Of course, you can trust Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to not take advantage of such a situation. They had Buttler out cheaply, reduced opposition to 68/4, and then the lowest target (145) of IPL 2022 in front, yet transpired to lose somehow. If 68-all-out was the most disastrous attempt batting first this season, RCB managed to lower the bar whilst chasing too. The 115-all-out now is the lowest a side batting second had scored in IPL 2022.
Virat Kohli’s horrendous form in IPL 2022 continued with a poor outing against RR, the former RCB captain getting dismissed for 9 off Prasidh Krishna’s bowling. Sportzpics
This, though, isn’t about dubious records, or RCB being just RCB and faltering at a most crucial time in the competition. This isn’t about Buttler either, who is just shy of the 500-run mark after eight games and well on course to beating the all-time record of 973 runs in an IPL season. This is about the man who set that mountainous record in the first place, and is now but a shadow of the batsman he was six seasons ago.
This is about Virat Kohli, of his struggles to put bat to ball, of his wry smile at guiding deliveries straight to fielders, of being unable to will the ball the way he wants, of being unable to hit it in the direction he wants, and of just being luckless in this immense battle at the moment. It is about his struggle, and how painful it is to see a one-time cricketing behemoth like this.
Let us start with those two ducks, which have played havoc in not only his mind but of everyone else watching. Against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), perhaps Kohli didn’t mean to play on the up; it just happened for his eyes lit up seeing the wide delivery and he chased it, as he should in T20 cricket. Only, he simply deposited the ball in the hands of backward point. That was the first smile from him, one of shock, implying he just cannot get it right at the moment.
Against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), well, it didn’t get any better. Kane Williamson put in a second slip as soon as Kohli arrived at the crease. For a batsman in such terrible form, this was an intense mind game. And such is the fragile nature of his mindset at the moment, Kohli succumbed first ball. An angled delivery, going across, one which he has fallen to many times but mostly in English conditions, Kohli chased it, edged it and was out caught. Another wry smile – only this time it was one of disbelief, of not knowing what needs to give.
RCB tried helping him; by changing the batting order and asking him to open, they allowed Kohli to set a new rhythm and break out from this rut. For his part, Kohli walked out and took strike when he could have asked Faf du Plessis to do so. Cowering is not his style, but it didn’t work against Rajasthan.
Sample his innings on Tuesday night. They were, arguably, the worst 10 deliveries Kohli has played in his T20 career. Only one came of the middle of the bat, straight to the waiting fielder. The rest, well, were edges, twice cutting and missing the stumps. Once, he mishit for four, and before all that, he could have been out caught on the third ball at square leg for another duck. You almost wonder if that would have been better, saving him the ignominy of this excruciating laborious stay at the crease?
The worst bit was Kohli wasn’t really trying to score runs. He wasn’t even trying to survive, or barely hang on, by judging each ball on merit. He was trying not to get out. Every time he shuffled across to face Trent Boult, he attempted to cover the delivery angled across. Only, it set him up for the incoming delivery, and so he brought his bat down quickly to avoid an lbw, which explains all the edges. And then came the bouncer from Prasidh Krishna, as if out of syllabus, and he fended at it, pulling half-heartedly, only for it to loop off.
That’s where we are today with Kohli — a once mighty batsman trying hard to save himself the blushes, struggling so horrendously that you find it pitiful and don’t want him to suffer. Instead, you want him out of this misery. When he isn’t edging straight deliveries, he finds new ways to get out.
And that wry smile – fighting his fate, jousting with luck, shrugging off every dismissal, every mindless stroke and its embarrassing consequence. Kohli cannot win at the moment. Hell, Kohli cannot buy a run at the moment, even if his life depended on it. At present, Kohli is simply not good enough to face this challenge. Love him or loathe him, as a cricket fan, it is just something you didn’t expect to see.
It never rains but it pours, they say, and it is certainly true for Kohli at this stage. A lot of people have talked about the demons in his head, and how he needs to step aside for a while, take a break from cricket and recharge his batteries. Arguably, the time for that has passed. You don’t take a break from the tournament that pays you INR 15 crore a year. No, it isn’t about the money, just the importance of the IPL for a batsman of his stature, and vice versa, the batsman’s importance for a tournament of this standing.
The time to take a break was earlier, when he should have missed the Sri Lanka Test series in March and gone away on a month-long break. Now, he has to ride this out, compete in the IPL, go to England and prepare for the T20 World Cup in Australia. All of this, whilst fighting the most wretched form any gifted batsman could have endured, and whilst everyone is out judging him. For he is alone on this journey, for those watching him cannot help. The optimists in us can only offer sympathies.
The cynical ones will argue if he even has the stomach for this fight. Time and again, Kohli has said publicly that he doesn’t need to prove himself and that contributing to the team matters more than personal milestones. In professional sport, that bit rarely holds true. You need to prove yourself everyday, if not to the fans, or even to the selectors, then to the person who stares back at you in the mirror.
This is the quintessential question facing Virat Kohli today, existential even. Will he climb out of this dark pit, or will he succumb, leaving behind only the ghost of a once-great batsman?
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