New Delhi, Dec 3: The Indian cricket fraternity heaped praise on Virat Kohli after the stalwart notched up a second consecutive century during the second ODI between India and South Africa on Wednesday at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur.
Kohli continued his fine form from Ranchi, where he played a 120-ball 135-run knock in the first ODI to help India win, and went on to score his 84th international century, the 53rd of his ODI career. Kohli stitched a humongous 195-run third-wicket stand with Ruturaj Gaikwad as the Chennai Super Kings skipper too got to the three-figure mark, his first-ever in ODIs.
After a statement performance by Kohli, current and former India cricketers reserved high praises for the 37-year-old as they took to X to share their opinion on the knock. Shreevats Goswami wrote, “Virat’s this 100 is even better than the ranchi one.
The pitch wasn’t as easy as these 2 have made it look which the ball stopping a bit here & there. The guy is a absolute run scoring machine.” While Aakash Chopra noted, “Back to back centuries. Beast mode activated.”
Irfan Pathan stated, “On Sunday king plays for sure but on weekdays he plays with your plans. Brilliant 100 by Virat Kohli.” Former India legend Virender Sehwag, meanwhile, penned, “Virat Kohli ko 100 ka nasha hi alag hai. Hum log centuries gin rahe hote hain, woh bas routine ka kaam samajh ke kar deta hai. Back-to-back 100‘s for the King. 53rd ODI hundred. Virat hai toh mumkin hai. A brilliant century from Ruturaj Gaikwad as well making batting look very easy.”
“Without Kohli cricket is nothing.. pure vintage!” wrote Mohammad Kaif. “Bow down to the King, Virat Kohli,” India spinner Yuzvendra Chahal said. India finished their innings on a high with 358/5 on board, courtesy of centuries from Gaikwad (105) and Kohli (102) and a fine unbeaten 66 by skipper KL Rahul, jelp hosts set a competitive target for the Proteas to chase.
IANS
