Making his debut in the Boxing Day Test against India, left-arm pacer Nandre Burger made an impact with his spell in the first session. Burger caused a top-order collapse getting rid of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill. During his first spell, Burger troubled Virat Kohli as well. Had it not been for Tony de Zorzi dropping a catch at square leg, Kohli would have departed after scoring just four runs. But after an early reprieve, Kohli asked for help from his batting partner Shreyas Iyer to counter the Proteas pacer as he was facing him for the first time in bowling-friendly conditions.
In the 16th over, Kohli decided to pounce on opportunities to score. He sent the first ball of the 16th over to the boundary as he played with a straight bat and pushed it through mid-off. Burger adjusted his line after that. Two of these balls were very full. After the fourth ball was angled across outside off, Kohli asked for Iyer's help after leaving it alone.
'Ball dekhte rehna hath mein uske, kidhar pakde rahega (Keep watching the ball in his hand, where he grips it),' Kohli said to Iyer at the non-striker’s end.
On the next ball, Burger pitched one up and Kohli flicked it towards square leg for a boundary. Burger was taken off the attack after that over. He conceded 23 runs from five overs including a couple of wickets and a maiden.
It is not the first time an Indian batter has asked the non-striker to keep an eye on where the bowler grips the ball. Legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar had revealed that he came up with unique signs against New Zealand’s Chris Cairns to counter his reverse swing.
Kohli and Iyer shared a crucial 68-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Kagiso Rabada got the wickets of both the batters as they missed out on half-centuries.
During his 38-run knock, Kohli surpassed captain Rohit Sharma to become India’s leading run-scorer in World Test Championship (WTC). Also, he left head coach Rahul Dravid on the list of highest run-scorers in Tests against South Africa.
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