Picture Credit: ICC
After 2 years, 1 month and 20 days, it looked like the D-Day was finally here! Yes, Virat Kohli was on his way to smash his much-awaited 71st international hundred. The right-handed batsman had gone about 60 innings in international cricket across all formats without a ton and the stage was set for a fairytale on the first birthday of his daughter. But unfortunately, it was not to be!
With wickets continuously falling at the other end, the 33-year-old was running out of partners and eventually succumbed on 79, a few runs short of what would have been a well-deserved century. But despite failing to reach the ton, there was no doubt that Kohli produced an exhibition of batting in Cape Town on Tuesday.
A fighting knock by Virat Kohli!
He came out to bat when India were reeling at 33/2 and from the first delivery, he looked in a different zone altogether. The right-handed batter left the ball which were pitched in good areas and was in no mood to give his wicket away. After playing a flurry of dot balls, Kohli eventually opened his account with a mesmerizing cover drive making his intentions very clear that he was on for something special.
Despite not getting much assistance from any other batter, Kohli stuck to his task and kept India in the contest. He fought hard in the middle and eventually reached the 50-run mark in 158 balls. The fact that it was his second slowest fifty in Tests was a testimony how difficult the conditions were.
India's No. 4 continued to play some beautiful shots whenever he got an opportunity, leaving everyone in awe of his class. After hitting 12 fours and 1 six off 201 deliveries, he was finally dismissed by Kagiso Rabada at score of 79. Although it was not a century, it was undoubtedly one of the best knocks played by Kohli, when all the other batters were struggling.
Watch Kohli's innings here:
On the back of Kohli's gritty 79-run knock, India managed to post a total of 223 in first innings which kept the visitors in hunt. If this knock had to be summarized in 4 words, "Leading from the front" would be the perfect answer.