Disciplined bowling and unbeaten century by skipper Virat Kohli helped India outplay South Africa by eight wickets in the sixth and final One-day International (ODI) at the Supersport Park in Centurion, South Africa on Friday.
After a brilliant performance by the bowlers which helped India restrict South Africa to a modest 204, Kohli (129 in 96 balls), who slammed his 35th ODI ton, anchored the innings perfectly and helped his team to wrap up the six match series 5-1.
The Indian skipper in his supreme form on Proteas soil which helped the Indian team reach the targeted score in just 32.1 overs. Shikhar Dhawan (18) and Ajinkya Rahane (34),lent support to Kohli to put together 50-run partnerships respectively.
The 29-year-old right-hander lead from the front by stroking 17 boundaries in his 82-ball hundred. Today, Kohli also became the fastest to 9500 ODI runs completing the feat in only 200 innings – 17 less than AB de Villiers.
After the memorable victory, Twitterati rejoiced the sweet victory. #KingKohli was soon trending in India.
Former cricketer Mohammad Kaif hailed Kohli’s dominating spell as one of those rare sights in Indian cricket since the last few years.
‘Kohli jaisa koi nahin,’ tweeted a jubilant Kaif. Decoding Kohli’s stellar ODI performance, Kohli’s 3 hundreds in 6 ODI’s, he says, is spellbinding.
For left-handed middle order batsman Raina, the ODI innings is one of the finest innings played by Indian team on foreign soil in recent times.
Sports Journalist Boria Majumdar went on to hail the skipper for being a ‘world order in himself.’
Former cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra requested Kohli to ‘bat with the walking stick on field next time.’
Kohli being declared ‘Man of the Match’ and ‘Man of the Series’ was lauded by Twitter users for always saving the day.
Chennai Super Kings showered praises for Kohli’s performance, calling him a ‘Run Machine’, ‘Chase Master’, ‘Milestone Man’ among others.
Twitter user @Trendulkar drew an interesting parallel between Kohli’s terrific chase and Nirav Modi. Go figure.
Former cricketer VVS Laxman congratulated the skipper for his 35th ODI hundred.
Another user got carried away by Kohli’s ‘incomprehensible’ thunder and said that the fruits of this victory will be felt at a later time.
Tweets poured in praising Kohli’s humbling gesture towards counterpart AB De Villiers.
(With IANS inputs)