India is fortunate to have produced great batsmen since its independence. Polly Umrigar, Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Mohammed Azharuddin, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar are among them.
After the retirement of Ganguly, Dravid and Tendulkar, it was assumed that the replacement of these great players would take a long time.
But Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli have filled in their spaces very quickly.
In recent times, India have won most of their matches, especially one-day and Twenty20, due to a solid and long batting line-up. Last week, India defeated Pakistan in yet another World Twenty20 encounter, at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, a ground where Pakistan had not lost a single match against India before.
India’s win-loss record against Pakistan reached 11-0 in all World Cup matches. They have defeated Pakistan six times in ODIs and five times in T20Is.
India have won four consecutive matches against Pakistan in T20Is: at Ahmedabad on December 28, 2012, by 11 runs; at Dhaka on March 21, 2014, by seven wickets; at Dhaka on February 27, 2016, by five wickets; and at Kolkata on March 19, 2016, by six wickets.
Overall, India have won seven out of eight matches played against Pakistan in Twenty20 Internationals.
Man-of-the-Match Virat was the only difference between the two teams. He read the track well and played according to the situation. He has the ability to play on any track.
Virat has time and again proved himself a true replacement of Tendulkar. He is the backbone of the Indian batting.
Virat is a chase master. His average of 83.6 in T20 Internationals while chasing is almost double that of former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara’s 44.93. No pitch or bowling attack has ever stopped Virat from winning matches for India when he is on fire.
In successful run-chases, his average goes up to 109.16. On 14 times when India won he scored 655 runs, with seven half centuries and remained not out on eight occasions.
Virat is most aggressive against arch-rivals Pakistan. His average against Pakistan is 84.66 in T20Is. In six innings against them, he has scored 254 runs, including two fifties with three not-outs.
In the two innings when India batted first, he made just 36 runs, while in four chases, he scored 218 runs.
In 2016, Virat has scored 430 runs in nine innings in T20Is, averaging 107.50, including five fifties.
Virat’s career average of 53.55 is the highest by any batsman in Twenty20 Internationals.
No other batsman has even touched 40. Australian opener Aaron Finch is the second highest with 39.82.
With the Man-of-the-Match award at Eden Gardens, Virat equaled Sachin Tendulkar’s record of winning three Man-of-the-Match awards against Pakistan in ICC World Cup matches.
Overall Virat has won eight awards and set an Indian record for most Man-of-the-Match awards, surpassing Yuvraj Singh’s tally of seven.
Virat-Yuvraj combination is the most successful pair for India in Twenty20 Internationals. In last six stands, they provided five 50-plus scores, including 68 against Pakistan in the Asia Cup last month.
Virat is a player who is always hungry for runs. He prepares for challenges, takes care of his fitness, and understands how he’s supposed to bat in different circumstances.
After the Pakistan match, he said that he loved to play on tough pitches like the one at Eden Gardens.
If Virat plays for 10-12 years further, he may surpass many records of Tendulkar.
After the ongoing T20 World, Indian skipper MS Dhoni could hang his boots from Twenty20 Internationals. In that case, Virat will surely be given the responsibility to lead India.
*All statistics updated up to Pakistan-India match on March 19, 2016.