Indian captain Virat Kohli looked in his elements during his 201-ball stay in the middle in the 3rd Test against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town. Riding his Kohli’s half-century, India managed to post 223 runs on the board in the first innings.
Opting to bat first, India stumbled once again. The openers, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal failed to convert the starts after doing all the hard work. Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli added vital 62 runs for the third wicket to steady the ship.
Marco Jansen finally produced the breakthrough before Kagiso Rabada ran through India’s middle-order. Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant faltered yet again and exposed the tail. However, Kohli held the fort tight from one end, bringing his second slowest half-century.
In the process, Virat Kohli produced a jaw-dropping cover driver out of his bag. He leaned perfectly towards the ball and timed the ball out of the middle of the bat that crashed onto the boundary ropes.
Watch the video here:
https://twitter.com/ittzz_spidey/status/1480870093756125185?s=20
Meanwhile, India lost their last six wickets for just 56 runs. Virat Kohli’s innings was magical, not because it had breathtaking strokes, more because of the way he dug in, especially leaving loads of deliveries outside the off stump. If not for the regular fall of wickets towards the end, he may well have broken his century drought today.
Kagiso Rabada was sensational with the ball returning with four wickets, and his duel with Kohli was truly box-office.
In reply, Jasprit Bumrah got the better of South African captain Dean Elgar before Aiden Markram and Keshav Maharaj saw the host through to the end of day 1. The Proteas are currently at 17/1, trailing by 206 runs.
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