The tale was all too familiar. India were in a spot of bother after losing openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma early, but skipper Virat Kohli soothed his team’s nerves before shutting the door on any slender hopes the opposition had of mounting a comeback. This was the case at Durban on Thursday, where India took a 1-0 lead in the six-match One-day International series against South Africa.
This was Kohli’s 20th century while chasing and his 33rd overall. Records continued to tumble like nine pins as the No 1-ranked ODI batsman, along with teammate Ajinkya Rahane, motored along with consummate ease to the 270-run target set by South Africa.
Rahane’s serene knock also came in for a lot of praise, as yet another day passed by with fans scratching their heads, wondering why the Mumbai batsman was dropped for the first two Tests. Here’s a pick of how Twitter lorded over the Indian captain:
Statisticians huffed and puffed at the end of Kohli’s knock:
Then, the praise for Kohli (and Rahane) began.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan perhaps summed it up the best:
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