King Kohli lords over Proteas

After watching his comrades run riot in the last Test, Virat Kohli finally took charge by stamping his authority with a monumental knock as an imperious India continued to dominate a hapless South Africa here on Friday.

Leading the team for the 50th time in whites, King Kohli marked the momentous occasion with a record-breaking 254 not out (336b, 33x4, 2x6) — his seventh double ton, the most by ab Indian. During the course of his epochal knock in the second Test, he forged two wonderful partnerships — a 178-run fourth-wicket stand with deputy Ajinkya Rahane (59, 168b, 8x4) followed by a match-defining 225-run association with Ravindra Jadeja (91, 104b, 8x4, 2x6) — as India declared for a third straight time this series at 601/5 in 156.3 overs.

South Africa, unsurprisingly, looked battered and bruised when they came out to bat. The hungry Indian pacers weren’t going to miss out preying on the wounded Proteas and Umesh Yadav, returning to the playing XI, led the hunt with 2/16 while Mohammed Shami bagged one to leave them tottering at 36/3.

Prior to this knock, Kohli had gone 10 innings without a century, a rare period of low for a man who has got a stellar conversion rate. And from the time he strode out to the middle on Thursday evening under lights, it looked like the skipper was determined to end that run.

He began the second day on 63 and although he had looked assured overnight in the company of Rahane, Friday morning presented a strong test of character. Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada had the new ball in their hands and with helpful morning conditions, they were continuously coming at him and Rahane with probing lines and lengths.

Kohli, as he has done so many times in the past, concentrated hard during that tough phase. Similar to his stance in England, he batted out of the crease against Philander and watched the ball really late against Rabada. With both pacers on top of their game and getting the ball to move away with great accuracy, Kohli knew edges were bound to happen. He played with soft bottom hand which made the ball drop short of slips a couple of times.

Kohli survived that challenging opening hour and having laid a solid foundation, he wasn’t going to miss out on a big one. He went on to construct another glittering sky-scraper — the tallest of his first-class career so far.

The manner in which Kohli went about his knock was also breathtaking. Following the early circumspection, he just kept changing the gears before finally bulldozing South Africa with full speed with Jadeja happy to play the co-driver.

In the opening session, where he brought up his 26th Test ton and 19th as skipper, he scored 41 runs in 78 balls. In the second, he battered 90 in just 103 balls and in the final session, during which he surpassed the great Don Bradman and 7000 in runs list, Kohli smashed 60 off 50 balls. He hit his first six only after going past 200 and while he hammered 33 boundaries, nearly half the runs came in singles and twos. It was a mouth-watering cocktail of graft and stunning shot-making, a lesson on Test cricket batting for anyone watching.

While Kohli was undoubtedly the star of the second day, Jadeja deserves praise too for his fine knock. Promoted ahead of specialist batsman Wriddhiman Saha, he bided his time at the start before blossoming as India went in search of quick runs to get a longer crack at the South Africans. A clean striker of the ball, Jadeja laid out a brutal assault on Keshav Maharaj and Senuran Muthuswamy as South Africa struggled to control the mayhem at both ends.