“During the first match of the tour, the very first ball of Johnson hit me on the head. Back then at first, it was complete disbelief. For 2 months, I had been visualising that I’d play like this and that, but there was a complete change of plans after that blow. It was a heavy blow and my vision started dropping as my left eye started swelling, but I did not notice it back then.”
These were the words of Virat Kohli, describing the blow he took from Mitchell Johnson’s bouncer during the Adelaide Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014-15. The match was played after Phil Hughes’ death and many had felt the Australian bowlers would refrain from bowling any bouncers at the Indian batters. However, that wasn’t the case as Johnson’s first delivery shook Kohli. India were trying to overhaul the mammoth score of 517 runs, thanks to hundreds from David Warner, Michael Clarke and Steve Smith.
India were 111 for 1 in their response when Murali Vijay was dismissed and Kohli walked to the crease. The Indian star was slowly setting himself as one of the world’s best and he got a rude awakening from Johnson. But the Indian star was determined to make a statement.
“And what happened at lunch was that, these are the things I feel thankful for, there were basically two options, fight or flight. And my reaction was obviously one that went, how dare he hit me on the head? I’ll smack him around and that is what I did,” Kohli said.
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Kohli nullifies Johnson and kickstarts an epic series
What followed after that delivery was pure class as Kohli nullified Johnson’s threat and took on the Aussie bowlers. After showing glimpses of his brilliance as a youngster in the 2011-12 series, where he scored his maiden Test hundred.
Kohli scored 12 boundaries on his way to a brilliant 115 off 184 balls as India scored 444 in their first innings. Another hundred from Warner helped Australia to score 290 for 5 and declared to set India a target of 364 runs to chase in Adelaide.
It was never going to be an easy task to chase such a total but Kohli and Vijay had given India hope. The duo had put India at 242 for 2 at one point but Vijay’s dismissal for 99 would open up the gates for the Aussies. The none of the other batters could put up a challenge, but Kohli would remain resilient.
He went on to score 141 runs, laced with 16 boundaries and a six from 175 balls and kept the Indian team in the hunt. However, his wicket was the final nail in the coffin as India lost the match by 48 runs.
However, this match would solidify Kohli as India’s premium batter and he went on to score 692 runs in the 4 matches. He was also handed the captaincy from MS Dhoni, who announced his shock Test retirement. While the series was ultimately lost 0-2, Kohli would start to set a template for the Indian team under him, which would win the series down under in 2018/19 and many more overseas Tests in the years to come.
One could say that Johnson’s bouncer woke up the run machine in Kohli, who would go on to conquer many incredible feats.
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