Kohli Still Box-Office But Is He Becoming A Liability For India?

Former captain’s legacy is secure but his hype-man qualities do not make up for sustained slump with the bat

- Jonathan Liew

In the film Crank, Jason Statham stars as a hitman who – as a result of being poisoned by a rival gangster – will die unless he can maintain his adrenaline above a certain level. To this end he is forced to engage in constant acts of self-stimulation, from taking cocaine to starting random fights to having sex in public.

Not a lot of people outside Hollywood know this. But Statham’s character in that film was based directly on Virat Kohli.

OK, maybe not the cocaine bit. Or the street brawling. Or, indeed, the public sex. But to watch Kohli on a lawless and restless day in Birmingham, as England carved their way towards a famous victory, was to be reminded of his eternal gift, one he shares with his thrill-seeking hitman alter ego: a compulsion to keep moving, to keep chasing the next buzz, to keep feeling something, whatever it is.

There are cherishably few cricketers in any form of the game who can remain the most compelling presence on the field, despite not scoring a single run, bowling a single ball or taking a single catch. And yet the eye is still magnetically drawn to Kohli, whatever he happens to be doing.