KING KOHLI SPECIAL

 

Image Credit- ESPN CricInfo.

Venue- Centurion Park, Centurion [January 13-17, 2018].

South Africa is one of the hardest places to play test cricket. The swing, the pace, and the uneven bounce makes it tough for any batsman to score runs. Furthermore, the pace attack of the Proteas makes it even tougher to survive. As a result, if one scores a ton in South Africa it is remembered for long. In this blog post I will be talking about one such test ton.

In the summer of 2018, the Indian cricket team toured South Africa to play 3 Tests, 6 ODIs, and 3 T20 Internationals. The hosts won the first test at Cape Town, and the action now reached Centurion. In a must-win game, South African captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bat first. Riding on the half-centuries of Markram, Amla, and du Plessis, the hosts ended up scoring 335 in their first innings. 

In response, the Indian batting line-up struggled in front of the Proteas' pace attack. It appeared they would be bundled in no time. However, this is when Kohli led from the front and countered the pace attack with his flair and class. In one of the toughest situations, he scored a magnificent 153 and brought his team back into the game. Kohli was literally at his absolute best that day. The shots he played were a treat to our eyes. It was simply superb. The timing, the placement, everything in it was incredible. Due to Kohli's heroics, Indians ended up scoring 307 in their first innings. Just 28 runs for the Proteas total. The game was truly on a knife-edge. 

However, this is when the Proteas came back harder. The legendary ABD scored a gritty half-century (80) as the Proteas scored a fighting total of 258 in their second innings. Apart from De Villiers, Dean Elgar and Captain Faf Du Plessis also made valuable contributions, as Indians now needed 287 runs to win the test and level the series. 

Unfortunately, the Indians failed miserably in the second innings as we lost both the test and the series. However, despite the setback, this knock of Kohli will be remembered for ages.  It was truly a masterclass. It is further interesting to note that in the entire series, there was only one batsman who scored a century, and he was none other than Virat Kohli. 

To watch the knock of Virat Kohli, Click Here.