Virat Kohli's Bowling Action

[Disclaimer: This is NOT a critique of the cricketing culture that surrounds him in any way. This is just something I noticed. I have an outsider perspective so I could be missing something.]

WORD COUNT - 4.2k (I got carried away lol)

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As Mitch Starc wins the coveted Allan Border Medal for the year, it’s worth looking at how tumultuous his career has been amidst criticism and underappreciation for the longest time.

Right from his debut till now – despite winning them matches upon matches, an entire freakin’ World Cup, even through multiple injuries & surgeries – Mitch has never been the Golden Boy of Australia when he very well deserved to be. No matter what he does, he is always the tag along in the headline about another player doing something. ‘xyz does this fantastic thing, M Starc also takes 4 wickets, Aus win comfortably.’

I have never seen such a brilliant player who has been criticized this much and this mercilessly by his own circle. After 5 uneven years on and off the team, he had pulled off a major miraculous breakthrough when he emerged as the Player of the Tournament of World Cup ’15. I thought surely now he will get his due. But some months and test matches later, the argument had shifted to ‘he may be good with the white ball but the red ball – the “real” cricket – is above his pay grade’.

I remember watching him bowl in the Perth test against New Zealand then, on a pitch that was an absolute road. He put everything he had in that game, bowled himself to the point of exhaustion. Literally broke his ankle with the stress he put himself under. Just to prove that he has it in him. Fast forward to today, and I still see a player who the world expects to prove his worth. No joke, despite being their most prolific active bowler, every Australian cricketing summer begins with calls of Mitch being dropped from the team. It’s honestly impressive.

While it had been a major motivator for him before, he doesn’t give a crap anymore. GOOD FOR HIM. But it does explain why he is the way he is. When you look at what he has endured all his career, you get why he has a chip on his shoulder, why he gets so damn angry – at everyone. And as Glenn McGrath once said, you’ve got to feel for him.