IND vs SA: Virat Kohli scored his 49th ton against South Africa at the Eden Gardens on Sunday
Former Indian player Gautam Gambhir acknowledged that Virat Kohli did the right thing by batting deep against South Africa however, Gambhir also mentioned Kohli slowing down as he neared his ton and predicted it would have cost the team if it was a better surface.
“It was important for Kohli to bat deep and I feel it was just the last 5-6 overs where he slowed down a bit, maybe because he was nearing a century. But I believe there were already enough runs on the board. It could have hurt India if they were batting on a good pitch,” Gambhir said speaking to Sportskeeda.
However, Kohli during the innings break said that it was a deliberate attempt from him to slow down. “As the ball got older, the conditions slowed down drastically. The message was clear, keep batting around me. I was happy from that perspective. Once we got more than 315, we knew that we were above par.”
Kohli put on on brilliant 134-run stand for the third wicket with Shreyas Iyer, who played a sublime knock. “You got to give credit to Shreyas Iyer for the way he kept taking chances and took the pressure off Virat Kohli. Both batted really well in the middle as the best time to bat was with the new ball. They expertly negotiated Keshav Maharaj and giving him just one wicket when Jadeja picked five was brilliant.” Gambhir would further say.
India, riding on Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 101 India put on 326 for 5 batting first. Kohli reached the landmark when he scored a single off Kagiso Rabada in the 49th over of the Indian innings in front of a packed Eden Gardens crowds that kept chanting his names. Prior to the match against South Africa, Kohli narrowly missed out on his 49th ODI century during India’s match against Sri Lanka on Thursday at the Wankhede Stadium.
Ravindra Jadeja took 5 wickets as the fabled Indian bowling lineup ripped through the South African batters to bundle them out for 83 as the hosts won by a resounding 243 runs, keeping their unbeaten run intact.
Source:indianexpress.com