Indian skipper Virat Kohli was all praises for his team after the thumping 113-run win in Centurion against South Africa in the Boxing Day Test. As Indian bowlers outsmarted South Africa batters in their own conditions, Kohli went on to say that Mohammed Shami, who took eight wickets in the Test including a fifer in first innings, is one of the three best seamers in the world at the moment. However, he did not specify the other two seamers in his list.
“Absolutely world class talent (Shami). For me he's in the best three seamers in the world at the moment. His strong wrist, his seam position and his ability to hit a length consistently,” the skipper said in the post-match presentation.
Kohli credited the Indian openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal for how they played on Day 1 on a challenging pacer-friendly Centurion wicket. Rahul scored 123 whereas Agarwal scored 60. The openers shared a 117-run opening partnership which helped India post a good first innings total.
“The discipline that the batters showed. Winning the toss, batting first overseas is a tough challenge. Credit to Mayank and KL the way they set it up. We knew we were in pole position with anything over 300-320,” the 33-year-old lauded the openers.
Kohli has had faith in his fast bowlers in the past few years. He went on to say that had Jasprit Bumrah not twisted his ankle, India would have bundled out South Africa for 40 runs less in the first innings.
“…The fact he didn't bowl much in the first innings, it allowed SA to get around 40 more runs (Bumrah). Just the way these guys bowl together has been a hallmark of our team getting a result in difficult situations,” said a confident Kohli.
While India got a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series, Kohli ended another year without a century across formats. The no.4 batter got out in both innings trying to chase the ball outside the offstump. It will be interesting to see if Kohli gets more cautious playing away from the body in the next two Tests and end the century drought in Johannesburg.
