Kohli's ambition makes all the difference

Now it almost seems a clever ploy from Bangladesh to not take the chances M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara provided in the first half of the first day. Separate them early, and you give Virat Kohli enough time to obliterate records. Against an attack lacking the discipline required on a flat pitch, Kohli never looked like not making a big score. In Hyderabad, say Kohli could be given out if a bowler beat his bat, he would have still scored 65.

In an interview with Nasser Hussain before the start of the ODI series against England, Kohli spoke about how cricketers generally don't test the limits of their ambition. Hussain had asked Kohli how he manages taking on everything: the captaincy, the responsibility of being the best batsman in the side, the most visible fielder, and the person at the forefront of every sledging contest.

Kohli's answer revealed a lot about his batting too: "I have realised that as cricketers we limit ourselves to how much we want to do without trying to find out how much we can do. I want to explore more, understand my maximum ability, even with the intensity in the field. The day I start getting burnt out, I pull back."

Perhaps the biggest difference between Kohli and other Indian players is ambition. The ambition as a captain and as a batsman. He wants India to believe they can win every match. As a batsman, his ambition comes from being liberated when playing limited-overs cricket. He carries that ambition into Test cricket. He wants to dominate attacks in Test cricket too. Why decide to bat a certain way in Tests without trying to find out if he can bat another way?

So Kohli brings the intent from limited-overs cricket to Test cricket. He runs hard without worrying about exhausting himself over a long innings. Why slow down before starting to burn out? To make sure he doesn't exhaust himself and play a tired shot, Kohli has worked hard on his fitness. As much as his batting form, it is this intent that makes the Hyderabad-like innings inevitable. You know teams can't afford to have catching men around him for too long because he scores so fast. So by the time he makes an error, the chances of him getting out are reduced because teams are already in defensive mode.

Though Kohli brings limited-overs intent to Test cricket, he respects the longest format. The shot to bring up his double-century in Hyderabad - when Taijul Islam bowled with the field up - was his first lofted shot against spin bowling in the innings. He also played two upper-cuts and a ramp off fast deliveries. Everything else was done with manageable risk. If he cover drove slightly extravagantly he knew he could do so because there was little sideways movement for the bowlers.

In scoring 1168 runs this season, Kohli has hit just one six but maintained a strike rate of over 60. That six came after he had batted England out of the Mumbai Test and he felt he could have some fun. This restraint has not hindered his ambition, it has enabled him to fulfil his desire of big runs in Test cricket because it has helped him bat longer.

Batting is done best when instinct is allowed to take over. When you just watch the ball and react. The fact that Kohli can do that - even when he has told himself he is not going to loft the spinners - is remarkable mental conditioning. Kohli is well and truly at his peak: he hardly breaks a sweat scoring double-centuries, mentally he is at his strongest, and his game is not complicated. What we are witnessing is a batsman on the path to greatness and testing the realms of the possible along the way.