What is the key to becoming a successful batter in today’s cricket?

“Change alone is permanent.” Cliché but correct.  What if I say, understanding this notion is the key to success as a modern-day batsman? Let’s delve-in.

It was the summer of 2014 in England. Virat Kohli was on strike and Stuart Broad delivered an absolute ‘jaffer’ outside the off-stump which straightened a little away from Kohli, got the neck of his bat and landed in Ian Bell’s palms at second slip.

As much as we try to decode the secret of a consistent batsman here, the truth is you cannot be a forever-successful batsman and be human. Not in today’s cricket. So, it’s safe to say that we might never see someone like Don Bradman, who never went on a streak of failure, ever.

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Virat Kohli, a modern-day great. He is one of the very few batsmen who has seen prolonged success in his career. Let’s take Kohli’s career as an example to understand what it takes to be a successful batter in today’s cricket.

What was described above was how Virat got out in the first Test of India’s tour to England 2014 and it was also the first Test for him on English soil.

In that tour, Virat was out eight times by edging the ball to the slips or the keeper, LBW on two occasions, bowled once and caught thrice anywhere other than cordon or the keeper.

It was a time when he was so strong on his on-side and slapped anything in line with the stumps through mid-wicket. But this also meant that his chest was slightly open to grant him the access to that on-side and left him vulnerable on that channel outside off.

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Even in the only time he was bowled in that tour, he was trying to leave an outside-off delivery to avoid edging it, but surprisingly that one jagged back in to clip his off stump.

One out of his two LBWs was also while trying to leave an outside the off-stump delivery which again moved back in.

That’s an awful ten out of his fourteen visits to the crease being dismissed because of his weakness outside off-stump in that tour.

This is the kind of era we are in. Stuart Broad was fed with enough data and analytics on Kohli’s weakness that he was able to get him in just his eighth ball at the crease in the very first match of the tour.

In his career, Virat Kohli’s average has dropped below 40 on three different occasions – Well, if you are reading this in 2030 or even later, then remember I am writing this in 2021 and so far, it’s only thrice. The first was in the calendar year 2011 when he could not cope up with his own success. He averaged 39.14 in that year after a very impressive start to his career in the first three years.

The warrior in him made sure he got through that phase stronger and smarter as he came back very soon and averaged over 50 runs consistently for the next three years scoring over 2000 runs twice in that period.

In his makeover after 2011, he had also worked on his skillset and scored most of his runs in the ‘V’ and was very strong on his offside. So, in the latter part of 2012, the bowlers started bowling back into his pads as a response and Kohli started to struggle in the middle-and-leg line. They found his inside three times more than the outside edge and Kohli had to adjust to it.

In 2013 Kohli shifted his technique to accommodate this line which the bowlers were constantly attacking with – the middle-and-leg. He opened-up his stance with his chest pointing at extra-cover rather somewhere between point and cover. He still had success with it until the English bowlers figured this change in late 2014 during the tour mentioned above.

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This is when his average dropped below 40 again. In 2015, Virat scored at 38.44 across formats. This forced another makeover. This time he focused on being strictly side-on and had his bat more towards the leg stump. Boy, didn’t that pay for him!

King Kohli struck at a staggering 86.50 across formats in 2016, before the bowlers realised that he had adjusted himself to the line they were attacking him with-outside the off stump. Not only did he come back with stronger offside play this time, but also with lightning quick hands against anything at his pads. It paid off exceedingly well in the next three years for him. He seemed invincible at the crease and scored over 2000 runs quite easily each year.

But in 2018 again, the bowlers decided to go back close to the stumps against Kohli. But this time not in the middle-and-leg line but more at the off stump and the fourth stump while swinging the ball back in rather than taking it away from him. This brought the inside edge of Kohli’s bat into play quite extensively.

He inside-edged on 21 more occasions more than the times he found the other edge. Which forced him to bring back the open-chested stance. He adjusted quickly as the number dropped to just 3 times in 2019. But this meant the bowlers were going to exploit his most vulnerable spot outside the off-stump once again.

2020 was the third time he averaged below 40 runs and as of 2021 he is still recovering at just above 40, but the number of matches is also substantially low due to the pandemic. He is certain to make a comeback and only god knows how that is going to be.

Premeditation is no longer a sin in batting. With the kind of analytics available for the bowlers today, every top batsman in the world has to try and get into the bowler’s mind, compare his previous deliveries and anticipate what the next ball is going to be. Kohli was a pro at it. That’s how he managed to maintain a decent average even through his adaptive years in 2014 and 2019 were a disaster by his high standards.

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Today, cricket is also a legitimate job like many others. Apart from practicing, cricketers have meetings and plan strategies too. Prior to a game, most of the top teams have specific meetings for batsmen, and bowlers separately to brief them about what to expect from the opponent and what is the best that they could be doing in the game. Individual strengths, weaknesses and plans are briefed to the players way earlier. They plan on which bowler to take on and which fielder would be the target to put pressure on. The game actually begins days before the first ball is bowled.

Batsmen like Virat Kohli were able to grasp this information and execute it to the dot at the centre. It made him ‘king’

Looking at how this illustrious career has been shaped, one can never fail to notice Virat Kohli’s adaptability. He always scrutinized his mistakes and was very quick to adapt to change.

He was able to eliminate the element of surprise and knew exactly where the bowlers were going to bowl at him, even on his bad days.

Everyone in international cricket has the skills. It is the intelligence of batsmen like Kohli who use all the resources available to him to always be a step ahead in preparation and the ability to change according to the situation is what serves to be the key for prolonged success in today’s cricket.