A video that went viral after Virat Kohli smashed his 51st ODI century showed cricket fans in Murree, on the outskirts of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, cheering for the Indian batting star and celebrating his heroics against their own team, rather boisterously. Pakistani cricket fans have, in the past, applauded Virat's batting prowess in stadiums, but this is different. It proves one of two things—either the Pakistani fans are so disillusioned with their team and their sub-par performances that they have shed all their inhibitions that stopped them from openly applauding an Indian player on Pakistani soil or, to quote a fan comment on social media, the “craze of King Kohli doesn't know borders”. But this is no ordinary border. Can you imagine a similar screening of an India-Pakistan match in India, where the crowd applauds and celebrates a century by a Pakistani batsman?

A Fitting Record

In a way, it was fitting that Virat broke yet another Tendulkar record, enroute to this ton (fastest to 14k ODI runs). After all, in modern-day limited-overs Indian cricket, there's only been a troika of players that I can think of whose popularity is truly a worldwide phenomenon: Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. These are players who will always be superheroes in the universe of fans' imagination, players who are in fact synonymous with the health of Indian cricket. We have felt low when one of these three was going through an extended lean phase, and have been elated when they have hit a purple patch.

This Sunday, when India beat Pakistan comprehensively and Virat Kohli walked away with the Man of the Match award, everything seemed like it made sense again. India had beaten Pakistan in an ICC event, with Virat scoring a century in a run chase, in his trademark self-confident style, something that was missing for a while. The balance seemed to have been restored. It's no secret that fan faith in the team's ODI world-domination powers was shaken after the loss in the 2023 World Cup final to Australia. Last year's series loss against the Lankans, the first in 27 years, made matters worse. This the fans just didn't see coming. After the shock 1-2 loss to Bangladesh in the 2015 bilateral series, the men in blue had become quite the ODI superpower. From then till the recently concluded series against England, India have played 40 bilateral series, home and away combined, and won 30 of them. Losing ODIs was anathema for Indian fans, who, let's face it, have been quite spoiled by the team's overall domination and have come to expect nothing less than pristine campaigns culminating in trophies. Whether fans should expect the sun, the moon and the stars from our cricketers or not is a topic of discussion for another day, but what is undeniable is that there were three things that could potentially assuage the hardcore Indian cricket fan: beating Pakistan, Virat Kohli—who had been mercilessly trolled by many of the fans who are calling him ‘King' today—finding much-needed form, and India winning an ICC trophy. Two of the three things on that list can now be crossed out. A quick check on any search engine about Indian cricket will show you that fan mood currently is very upbeat.

Public Memory Is Short

“Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone”. These lines by poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox are particularly applicable to an athlete's life. Is Virat Kohli nearing the end of his ODI career? Yes, he is. Is this Champions Trophy a sort of litmus test to check where he currently stands in terms of his mental strength and ability to bounce back? You bet. The century against the arch-rivals, in what was potentially the most high-pressure match of the tournament, is indication enough that he is still ‘King Kohli' when it comes to mental strength. But should he have been trolled and turned into the butt of jokes when he was out of form, like we have seen happen more than once? Absolutely not. It might be a cliche, but it's 100% true that all athletes are driven the most by the fact that they are representing their country, that is, the people of that nation. For Virat and every other Indian athlete, it's the over 1.4 billion Indian citizens. That gives them a sense of responsibility that only a few can relate to.

It's funny how quickly fans change their tunes. When Virat was struggling to turn starts into big scores, some of the fans who are singing his praises from the rooftops now for ‘demolishing Pakistan' were the ones asking for his head. But that's just another day in the life of an elite international athlete. Failure, something each one of us tastes in our lives, is just not acceptable. Which is why the greats do what most others can't: roar back to life on the biggest of occasions. And Virat embraced this opportunity with both hands. Yes, the ‘chase master' seems to be back.

The 'True King'

It wasn't a surprise to hear former Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Hafeez call Virat the ‘true King'. The timing of his return to form was almost immaculate. A century against Pakistan in an ICC event that helped India win the match and all but enter the semis (at that time): no doctor could have prescribed better medicine for the malaise of poor form. Let us not forget that the ODI format has been Virat's best friend through his career. It's also the format that he knows he needs to use to return to peak form. Breaking Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI centuries to become the first man to touch the 50 mark is in itself a herculean task. But then, champion players never rest on their laurels.

A Stunning Recovery

On Sunday, Virat also showed that he has made considerable progress in overcoming the one hurdle that was bringing him down of late: tackling spin. Of late, he has been troubled by both wrist spin and left-arm tweakers. The likes of Adil Rashid at home and Jeffrey Vandersay and Dunith Wellalage in Sri Lanka have been tricky to handle. The Dubai tracks are better batting pitches than the ones at the Emerald Isles, but Virat chose to stay mostly on the back foot in the first half of his knock before gaining the confidence to play from the front. Pakistan also had only one specialist spinner in Abrar Ahmad. But still, for a batsman whose ODI arc dipped from breaking the record for the maximum number of runs ever in a single edition of a World Cup (765 in 11 innings in the 2023 edition) to scoring 137 runs in six innings since then, while falling to spin five times, the 100* against Pakistan was a loud message that many of the demons that were haunting him have been exorcised.

India now stand two wins shy of another ICC trophy, and the batsman who is probably feared the most by opposition teams has struck form at an extremely critical juncture: both for himself and his team. What was it that he signalled to the dressing room after hitting the winning runs against Pakistan? “I'm here, don't worry”, he seemed to say. Self-confidence, thy name is Virat Kohli.

(The author is a former sports editor and primetime sports news anchor. He is currently a columnist, features writer and stage actor)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author