Along their 151-run partnership that reduced the game to an eight-wicket canter, the equation Kohli and Gill was one of equals. (CREIMAS)The moment would remain frozen in the memory of the audience. Virat Kohli sears down the ground, pauses for a micro second and transfers his weight seamlessly into Gudakesh Motie’s flighted ball. Over the long-on fence. Into his 55th century, into their imperishable memory. It’s perhaps the last they would see Kohli in flesh and bone in an India shirt. Kisses flew, drums beat in frenzy, the chants reached a deafening chorus and unleashed a barrage of boundaries to wrap up the game.AS IT HAPPENEDA bigger narrative had just played out. A tango between the past, present and future of Indian batting. Kohli (139 not out) is the past and the present; Gill (110) is the present and future. Their worlds produced a stirring harmony. Along their 151-run partnership that reduced the game to an eight-wicket canter, the equation they exuded was not between a master and an apprentice; but between two near equals. Kohli certainly is the more masterly and celebrated of the two, 55 hundreds and 15k runs to his ledger, but Gill did not seek the solace of his giant shadow. He firmly held his own ground until the cramps got the better off him. Kohli continued his merry dance into a hundred that was all unbridled aggression and winked in with a savage six off Motie. A hundred of utmost comfort, except for a blow on his wrist by Alzarri Joseph, much as the crowd had wished. But Gill’s three-figure score was no less magnificent. Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill running between the wickets during the 296-run chase against West Indies at the Sports Hub International Cricket Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram.(CREIMAS for BCCI)It is a marker of the format’s receding relevance that Gill’s batsmanship goes uncelebrated. He embodies the essence of new-age ODI batsmanship, brandishing aggression without embracing. Both the old, modern batting philosophies blend in him frictionlessly. The start was watchful, as often it is. But he seizes an over wherein he knocks out the bowler softly. Joseph was the hapless victim, as he switched through the gears with three crisp fours in the eighth over.None of the balls were wrapped with gift-paper. The first was a hard length ball outside the off-stump. He cuffed it through point; the second was shorter and wider and he blitzed it in front of point, piercing the alley between two fielders placed specifically to block the shot. Enraged, Joseph bowled fuller, only for the ball to meet the sweet spot off Gill’s ball coming down after tracing a gorgeous parabola. The giant television screen on the ground played that cover numerous times, and yet it continued to awe the audience. Apart from a reprieve on 11, shattering the crowd’s dream of watching Kohli and Rohit Sharma together, he was inscrutable.Before the onslaught, he was on 18 off 26 balls; in the twitch of an eyelid, he raced to 39 off 33 balls. It included an inside-out six off leg-spinner Motie, followed by a cut-stroked four. He used his feet habitually against both spinners and seamers. Sometimes he telegraphs his designs, but it doesn’t matter. Even if the bowlers adjust, he readjusts at the last split-second and often finds the same result he was looking for. Early in the piece, Matthew Forde pulled his length back, but Gill suddenly stopped and carved him over the square leg fielder for a four.There is little doubt that Gill is the future figurehead of India’s batting. The nit-pickers would harp on his shortage of hundreds when chasing. Before this game, he averaged 59 when pursuing a target, but with only two hundreds (off his nine). It’s not a blotch in his career, but the burden of being Kohli’s successor is crushing. Gill has to not only score runs and win games, but do so like Kohli. In run chases, in clutch moments. This was not quite a nervous game, but Gill had to ensure that there were no interventions of drama. Like Kohli, he has to illustrate that captaincy doesn’t wither him. He calmly guided the chase, as Kohli would, under his nose.ALSO READ | Why Kuldeep Yadav should be among the first names for World CupStory continues below this adTheir methods and outlooks could be different, just as Kohli’s was with his spiritual predecessor, Sachin Tendulkar. Gill’s face barely mirrors his thoughts. A warm half a smile is all he gives. Kohli is a riot of emotions, even though there is nothing left for him to prove. Kohli, though, has shed his siege mentality. He rarely gets provoked these days, barely engages in verbal spats. The sneer and snigger are expressions he has long ditched. Maybe it comes with his own deep understanding of the game and the mastery he wields. He brings a different kind of joy, not as much rush of adrenaline or heart-leaping intensity, but a surreal calmness.The arena witnessed a poignant moment. As Gill trudged back to the pavilion after his hundred, Kohli ran towards him and hugged him. He wrapped an arm over his shoulder, and consoled him with the warmth of a close kin. The axiom perhaps is true, that greatness realises greatness.They are two different batsmen in different stages of their career. Kohli has conquered all he could save Tendulkar’s 18k peak; Gill is speeding along the highway Kohli built. Together, they rode smoothly on another highway that was the Greenfield surface.