Cape Town: Virat Kohli, the Indian run machine just doesn’t want to slow down at any cost and his record 34th ODI hundred on Thursday against South Africa followed by some wrist-spin magic led the visitors to a massive win by 124 runs at the Newlands.
Courtesy this win, India now lead the six-match series 3-0 and have also inflicted a huge defeat over hosts South Africa-their heaviest in history. Also, Kohli’s magnificent 160, helped him to 12 hundreds as an Indian captain, surpassing the likes of Sourav Ganguly, who had 11 to his name during his stay at the helm.
What is even more fascinating about Kohli’s innings is the fact that it came at a time when the batting faltered and needed an inspiring innings to post a defendable total on the board. Having scored almost half of the team’s runs, Kohli’s majestic 160* is also the second highest away from home by an Indian captain, after Kapil Dev’s 175 against Zimbabwe in 1983.
If it was Kohli’s batting that lifted India in the first innings, it was the wrist-spinners once again who made their presence felt with some quality bowling, restricting the hosts to just 179 runs in 40 overs. Both Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav took four wickets apiece as the hosts were left completely bamboozled.
Having won the toss, the Proteas opted to bowl first and their decision paid off almost immediately as the out-of-form Rohit Sharma (0) once again was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada in the very first over.
But then came a huge 140-run stand between Shikhar Dhawan (76) and skipper Kohli as the duo absorbed the pressure and shifted the momentum of the game in their favour. But Dhawan’s wicket was followed by the dismissals of Ajinkya Rahane (11) and Hardik Pandya (14) as India, all of a sudden were down at 188/4 from 140/2.
But while the wickets kept falling at the other end, it was a resolute Kohli who strongly held his ground at the other end and never really enabled the hosts to completely dictate proceedings. India might have fallen well short of the 300-run mark had it not been for the captain, who led by example and proved why he is the number one ranked batsman in this format.
The 29-year-old played his shots with grace and class as he hammered a total of 12 fours and two sixes in his 159-ball knock. The standing ovation received by him at the end of the first innings, is a testament to the grit and class of the innings.
With the momentum on their side, it was Jasprit Bumrah, who gave India a flying start, removing the dangerous Hashim Amla (1) just the second over. The South African innings too followed a similar pattern like that of the Indians as it was skipper Aiden Markram and JP Duminy who started the rebuilding work, with a 78-run partnership, which threatened to take the game away from India.
But Kohli’s wrist-spinners came to the rescue once again as this time, it was Kuldeep, who broke the stand as he tempted Markram to step out of his crease as MS Dhoni did the rest of the job, whipping the bails in a flash to effect his 400th ODI dismissal.
That was the beginning of the end for the hosts. Markram’s departure set the tone for India as the wickets started to fall regularly, with South Africa reduced to 95/4 in no time when Duminy was dismissed for a solid 51.
The chinaman bowler registered his best bowling figures (4/23) in the 50-over format.
It didn’t take much long for the Indian bowling to wipe off South Africa in the run-chase as the hosts just couldn’t hold their ground, getting skittled out for 179 runs and crashing to a 124-run loss.
Brief scores-
South Africa 179 all out in 40 overs (JP Duminy 51; Aiden Markram 32; Kuldeep Yadav 4/23) lost to India 303/6 (Virat Kohli 160*, Shikhar Dhawan 76; JP Duminy 2/60) by 124 runs.