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India's batting juggernaut Virat Kohli is riding on a purple patch with the willow as the star batter seems to have found his mojo back after a brief break from International cricket. His latest heroics with the bat which germinated from Asia Cup's splendid century and the onslaught still continues which also saw an incredible 63-run knock in the decider T20I of the three-match series against Australia which also scripted India's emphatic six-wicket victory.
With the marquee T20 World Cup looming, Kohli's return to form will certainly auger well for Team India.
Meanwhile, former India's fielding coach R Sridhar showered praise on Kohli 2.0 as he noticed a lot of positives in Virat, be it his batting, fielding or the overall mindset and headspace that he is in.
"He is in a better space now. Like he admitted himself, he was probably not in the right frame of mind and now has got it in the right place. The break has done him wonders; the time spent with his family has done him wonders. And we saw what he could do right in the first game against Pakistan in the Asia Cup," Sridhar told Cricket.com.
And rightly so. Kohli scored a crucial 35 against Pakistan, where he looked like a million bucks. He followed it up with consecutive half-centuries – against Hong Kong and then against Pakistan again, this time during a Super 4 tie. Kohli failed in the next game against Sri Lanka, getting dismissed for a duck as India lost the must-win contest, but ended the tournament on a high with a scintillating century against Afghanistan. Kohli ended the Australia series with a defying fifty, with Sridhar in the house, and with three more matches to go against South Africa, the former India fielding coach has passed a verdict which opponents will not fancy reading.
"After seeing him bat from ringside in Hyderabad, you can well and truly say that the king is back. Great mindset. He is fielding like a panther and his batting is brilliant. All in all, it augurs extremely well for Indian cricket going into the World Cup," he added.
Kohli will look to carry the same momentum in the South Africa series as the 33-year-old is enjoying his newly-found form which is a good sign for India just ahead of the all-important T20 World Cup. The three-match T20I series between India and South Africa starts on Wednesday (September 28)
Kohli is chasing a milestone as he holds the record of smashing most fifties in the T20Is. The former Indian skipper has struck 33 fifties in his illustrious career for India. Kohli has cracked two half-centuries against the Proteas. If Kohli manages to scoring a fifty in the upcoming series against Proteas, he can achieve the milestone of smashing the most number of half-centuries against South Africa in the shortest format of the game.
Squads
South Africa
Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.
India
Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah.
