South Africa vs India 2013-14: Virat Kohli's scores his 5th Test ton to take India to safety on Day 1

Virat Kohli

A career best hundred from Virat Kohli saw India march on to 255/5 at the end of Day 1 in the first Test against South Africa. Virat Kohli scored his 5th Test hundred of his career and took India to a solid position at the New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. During this innings, Virat Kohli became the 8th Indian batsman to score a hundred against South Africa in South Africa. This hundred was also Kohli’s 2nd hundred away from home, the first one being in Adelaide against Australia back in 2012.

Indian captain MS Dhoni won the toss in the morning and elected to bat on a lively Wanderer’s track. After a watchful half hour, India lost Shikhar Dhawan who tried to hook Dale Steyn but only succeeded in looping up a catch to Imran Tahir for just 13.

Murali Vijay stuck it out for 42 deliveries for his 6 runs before he edged one off Morne Morkel. With just 24 on the board, both openers were back in the hut and Morne Morne looked menacing to cause some serious trouble. However, Virat Kohli, promoted to “Sachin Tendulkar spot”, along with Cheteswar Pujara added 89 runs for the 3rd wicket and engineered an Indian comeback.

Kohli looked at ultimate ease against the pace of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and made Vernon Philander look rather docile. He handled the short delivery well, left balls outside the off stump and pounced on loose deliveries.

Pujara, on the other end, was at his solid best and was determined to score a big one. He defended the ball with a lot of conviction and rotated the strike with Kohli to keep the scoreboard moving.

The South African bowlers looked a touch out of sorts as this duo of young Indian batsmen blunted the new ball and started to look for the boundaries. Vernon Philander was off colour and Dale Steyn was unable to produce his magic deliveries. Morne Morkel bowled the odd uncomfortable delivery but Jacques Kallis and Imran Tahir were taken for runs.

However, just as the partnership looked unbreachable, a terrible mix up caused Pujara lose his wicket. Kohli dabbed Tahir towards mid wicket and set off for a quick single. Pujara responded but Tahir, very quickly, got to the ball and Kohli bolted leaving Pujara well short of his ground. Pujara scored 25 runs but faced 98 deliveries to take the sting out of South Africa’s new ball attack and steady the ship for India.

Pujara’s departure brought in Rohit Sharma, the man who hit two back to back hundreds in his last two outings. Although, he looked comfortable at the crease, a loose waft outside the off stump saw him return to the pavilion for just 14.

Kohli, then, paired up with Ajinkya Rahane, who finally got drafted in the Test side, and added 68 valuable runs. Kohli went past his 5th 100 during this partnership while Rahane settled in thanks, to some very generous freebies from Imran Tahir.

Both the batsmen played their shots and South Africa looked out of steam. Kohli cut, pulled and drove with authority and made batting look very easy on a lively track. He played with a lot of flair and discipline and was particularly severe on Imran Tahir and Jacques Kallis. However, his pull shot and his straight drive against Dale Steyn stood out of all the 18 hits to the fence.

This is Virat Kohli’s first Test against South Africa and this innings from him displayed the tremendous maturity and class the young man from Delhi possess. Especially, when one thinks that he was under immense pressure inheriting the number four spot in the line up from Sachin Tendulkar.

However, just as he looked all set to launch an assault on the South African bowling, he lost his wicket to Kallis playing a rather timid and a tired shot. His innings of 119 is his career best score till now but he would be rather disappointed for not converting this into a really big one.

Kohli departed but Ajinkya Rahane was in no mood to give in. The Mumbai batsman, who has been in the sidelines for quite some time now, grabbed his opportunity and played some sparkling drives to justify his selection.

He ended the day unbeaten on 43 and added 36 runs with the Indian skipper to take India home safely on Day 1. Dhoni is batting on 17 and if Rahane and Dhoni can take India past 300 tomorrow, it would set up a really good Test match.