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Unbeaten Kohli humbles Proteas
A career-best, unbeaten 254 from Virat Kohli and a whirlwind 91 from Ravindra Jadeja propelled India to a mammoth 601-5 declared before South Africa were reduced to 36-3 by the close of play on the second day of the second test against South Africa at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Friday.
The Indian captain’s seventh double century and a fifth-wicket stand of 225 with Jadeja condemned the tourists to attempt to draw the match but Aiden Markram (0) was trapped lbw by Umesh Yadav in the second over to immediately underpin their efforts.
Dean Elgar (6) followed soon afterwards bowled off the inside edge by the same bowler and Temba Bavuma (8) edged a Mohammad Shami delivery to ‘keeper Saha to complete a miserable day for South Africa and one of eye-watering dominance for the hosts.
Theunis de Bruyn (20*) will resume on the third morning in the company of nightwatchman Anrich Nortje (2*).
Kohli was in brutal form after reaching his 26th test century tearing into all of South Africa’s bowlers and hitting 33 fours and two sixes from 336 deliveries and offering just one clear chance when Faf du Plessis caught him at slip shortly after reaching his double century – off a Senuran Muthusamy no-ball.
Left-hander Jadeja was even more brutal smashing 91 from only 104 balls with eight fours and two sixes, both off Keshav Maharaj who conceded 21 runs from a single over towards the end of a marathon 50 overs which brought him just a single wicket at a cost of 196 runs.
That wicket, of Ajinkya Rahane (59) was Maharaj’s 100th in his 27th test and was the only casualty of the afternoon, caught by Quinton de Kock after a fourth-wicket partnership of 178 with Kohli.
'WE ENJOY BATTING'
Jadeja was flying towards a second test century before mistiming another lofted drive down the ground to be caught at long-on off the bowling of Muthusamy at which point Kohli finally ended the tourists' agony with the declaration after 156.3 overs.
“We were thinking about 500, not 600 but the way Virat and Jadeja batted in the end, they made it look so easy from the outside but I don’t think it’s a 600 wicket,” said Rahane who contributed 59 to a third-wicket stand of 178 with his captain. “I think it’s more a 450 or 500 run wicket.”
“We really enjoy batting in each others company, it was important to communicate well and that’s generally what we do. We knew that we were one batsman short for this game so we knew we had to stay together and get that partnership going, so it was important for the match situation,” Rahane said.
“It’s not as hot here as it was in Vizag last week and there’s definitely something here for the fast bowlers – if put the ball in the right areas they will definitely have some success, and I know our bowlers will do that.
“There will still be something for the fast bowlers (for the rest of the test) but it will definitely spin, too. But we all know that Jadeja and Ashwin can bowl on any track,” Rahane said.
WORLD-CLASS BATSMAN
“Credit to India and the way they went about their business,” said Proteas coach Enoch Nkwe. “Virat is a world-class player and he led by example today. It was a great knock and superb to watch.
"When you are bowling to a world-class batting line-up that’s what happens. We need to take some learnings from that when we bat, how to get through some tough times and be mentally strong.
“When we come out again tomorrow morning we need to keep believing and trusting our processes and believe that we can come back into the game strongly,” Nkwe said.
“We have ourselves to blame this morning – we felt conditions would suit our seam bowlers but we didn’t test the batsmen enough, we bowled too wide, we allowed the batsmen to get in and settle. We must learn to bowl tighter lines for longer periods and build pressure that way,” Nkwe said.
“It’s a bit of an inexperienced bowling attack, we always knew that, but one thing I will never question is their character – they gave it everything. We’ll keep trying to find a way back into the game. We won’t back down, we’ll keep fighting.”
Kohli’s seventh double-century placed him alongside Wally Hammond and Mahela Jayawardene and behind only Brian Lara (9), Kumar Sangakkara (11) and Donald Bradman.
Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada (30-3-93-3) was the only South African bowler to emerge from the battering with any credit although the tourists' disarray was summed up by captain du Plessis having to step in to break up a hot-tempered altercation between Rabada and de Kock.
Opening batsman Mayank Agarwal scored 108 from 195 deliveries with 16 fours and a pair of sixes on the first day to take control of the test match but Kohli has completed the job. Kohli’s conversion rate of 50s into 100s (he has 22 and 26) is second behind only Bradman.
INDIA: Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami
SOUTH AFRICA: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Theunis de Bruyn, Temba Bavuma, Faf du Plessis (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Senuran Muthusamy, Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje
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