Virat Kohli – The face of resilience in a chaotic Centurion

On a day when the South African bowlers ran riot against India on a surface that spat venom in the face of the touring Indians, King Kohli showcased once again why he is truly an exemplar of iconic batting. 

From impeccable timing to an exquisite array of drives, the former Indian captain was on song on a nightmarish surface at Centurion where the other Indian batters were simply carrying forth a formality of walking in and out of the ground.

Strutting into bat in the sixth over of the innings, Kohli was welcomed with a short ball from the burly Nandre Burger, making his glacial intentions clear to the seasoned Indian campaigner. After letting go of the first 12 balls without scoring, the King opened his account with a gorgeous cover drive against Marco Jansen.

Three balls later, Jansen tempted Kohli to resort to the aerial route and the King was not going to let the lanky quick down as he slapped the former away to the ropes over the point region with utter disdain. Gerald Coetzee wanted to test Kohli’s flair down the leg-side and bowled a couple of deliveries onto his pads, eyeing the middle and the leg that kept the Indian run-machine in check.

Come the fifth ball of the 13th over, as soon as the delivery landed in somewhat of a similar region, Kohli synced in harmony his balance, head position and those crafty wrists to dispatch the cherry down the leg-side making it clear for Coetzee that he was just a guest in Kohli’s big brave world.

However, the kind of fiery form that the South African bowlers were in, Coetzee wanted to have another bite at Kohli as he rocked the deck hard in the 19th over in an attempt to play the sweet chin music for the former Indian skipper. Kohli got onto his ankle and got underneath the ball, whacking it over cover-point, all the way across the ropes.

The carnage never really stopped from VK and once he realized that he was running short of partners at the other end, he upped the ante and started scoring at a faster rate. Refusing to go silently into the night, before he got out to Marco Jansen in the 35th over, Kohli sparked further resilience and entertainment for the Centurion concourse as he blasted Burger for a couple of more boundaries.

He eventually called it a day at 76 against Jansen as Rabada bagged an absolute ripper to draw the curtains on what was an excellent knock of control and aggression, infused in the same breath.