The 84th international century of the veteran batter Virat Kohli in the second ODI against South Africa in Raipur on Wednesday has earned him the respect of the former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan who heaped praise on the fitness and focus of the Indian superstar.
The 37-year-old batsman has recently been the one everyone has been talking about, and he has continued from where he had left off in Ranchi with a blistering 135 in 120 balls consisting of 11 fours and seven sixes. Kohli played a more measured innings this time with a 93-ball 102 that included seven fours and two sixes in Raipur.
“We have to discuss the case of Virat Kohli. A 37-year-old, still so fit, scoring centures one after another, he has even more energy to jump high and celebrate and it is estimated he jumps about 9 meters, which is clearly an indication of the level of concentration he has. He started with two ducks in Australia but has 50 or more runs in the following three innings. He scored 74 in Australia before getting back-to-back fifties. It was a different challenge here. He knew the pitch was a bit different here and had to be careful. Kohli opened with a six but was always careful when the ball was pitched outside off-stump.” Irfan Pathan uttered on his YouTube channel.
Pathan evaluate d Kohli’s fantastic batting, mentioning among other things his knack of going out to the fast bowlers and hitting them off pretty calmly. Among all mentioned, Pathan was the most taken by Kohli’s six off Marco Jansen’s bouncer which pointed out nothing less than Kohli’s genius with palm and reaction time.
“We are used to see this with Kohli; he is walking towards fast bowlers and there is no one time problem. It does not bother Kohli that he has no time. The manner he moved out to and hit Marco Jansen’s bouncer for six is the very nature of batter who is not that much timely,” said Pathan.
Pathan was also of opinion that Kohli had an answer for each and every South Africa’s plan. He pointed out that the 37-year-old batsman continued to wait for the ball to come in his zone and he was taking singles and doubles.
“Whenever the bowlers change their gameplan, he also has a new plan ready. He has the answer for every plan from South Africa,” Pathan added. “In the last match, there was an off-spinner, and we saw a left-arm spinner in this game. He countered him effectively.”
Pathan elaborated, “He kept waiting for the ball to be placed up and there is also his game on the back foot, which is taking singles and doubles effectively. All in all, his century celebrations speak of the return of the old Virat Kohli. The way he celebrates taking a wicket also indicates that he is back. On this aspect, it’s a huge positive for India in ODIs.”
Virat against South Africa in ODIs is a different animal, and that animal has gone notches higher statistically against the Proteas. In 33 matches and 31 innings, Virat has accumulated 1,741 runs at an average of 69.64 against the Proteas with a strike rate of 88.51, hitting seven centuries and eight fifties. This is the highest number of centuries by any batsman in ODI format against the Proteas.
Notwithstanding, the lavish century of Aiden Markram and the intelligently played fifties of Dewald Brevis and Matthew Breetzke overshadowed the centuries of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Virat Kohli as South Africa successfully pursued 359 runs at Raipur.
This victory equalizes the three-match ODI series to 1-1, with the next and final match scheduled for Saturday at Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
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