5 of the finest Virat Kohli performances against South Africa in international cricket

Here are the five best performances from Virat Kohli against South Africa across formats.

Virat Kohli has proven himself to be quite a run machine in international cricket since his debut in 2008. Since then he has become one of the highest run-getters in cricket history with 11520 runs in 239 ODIs, 6749 runs in 79 Tests and 2369 runs in 70 T20I matches.

Kohli has been at the top of his game for some time now and will be facing South Africa in a series of 3 T20Is and 3 Tests at home. This will be an amazing battle to be seen between some of the best bowlers and probably the best batsman in the world in all three formats. He possesses a brilliant record against the South African team as well. And has played some amazing knocks against the Proteas over the years.

Team COC takes a look at the five best Virat Kohli performances against South Africa in all the three formats of international cricket.

Here are the top 5 of the finest Virat Kohli performances against South Africa in international cricket

72*, Dhaka, World T20 2014

This was the second semi-final of the ICC World T20 2014 between India and South Africa with the match being played at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur in Dhaka. Kohli had already shown his might in the previous matches and this was going to be his coup de grace.

South Africa batted first after winning the toss and made 172/4 in 20 overs. Faf du Plessis made 58 and JP Duminy made 45, while R Ashwin picked 3/22 for India.

Team India got a fair opening stand of 39 runs when Rohit fell for 24 and then Rahane followed soon for 32 runs. However, it was Virat Kohli, who kept the chase alive single-handedly with a sublime 72* in 44 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. He got some help from Yuvraj (18) and Raina (21*), as India cruised home in the last over with 6 wickets in hand and into the finals. Kohli won the Man of the Match for his effort.

138, Chennai, 2015

2015 saw South Africa and India engage in the five-match ODI series which was a perfect exhibition of some fine limited-overs play from both sides. The fourth match of series was played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, which was a must-win match for India to equal the series 2-2.

MS Dhoni won the toss in what can be said as his home ground and chose to bat first. Openers failed to give a substantial start, but Kohli slammed a sublime 138 in 140 balls with 6 fours and 5 sixes. Rahane (45) and Raina (53) helped the cause, as India put on 299/8 in 50 overs.

In reply, though AB de Villiers hit a sublime 112, Indian bowlers, especially Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/68) kept the South Africans to 264 and won the match by 35 runs and Kohli was named Man of the Match for his amazing ton.

119 & 96, Johannesburg, 2013

India toured South Africa in 2013 and it was here when Kohli stamped his authority in the Test series with some amazing performances. The best of which came in the first Test at the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.

India won the toss and chose to bat first and scored 280 runs. Amazingly, Kohli scored 119 of those runs, as the next best was 47 from Ajinkya Rahane. Vernon Philander had run through the India side with 4/61. South Africa replied with 244 with Philander scoring a half-century. Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma picked 4 wickets each.

In the second innings, India was looking to make the most of the slight lead that they had gotten and put it to good use, by making 421 runs. Kohli, in the second do, scored 96 runs, while Pujara took the honors by making 153. Kohli ended the Test with 119 and 96, a sublime performance which got him Man of the Match.

South Africa almost chased down the target of 458 runs with De Plessis making 134 and De Villiers making 103, but a flurry of late wickets led them to shut down the chase and end the innings of 450/7, leading to the match being drawn.

160*, Cape Town, 2018

The 3^rd ODI of the 2018 6-match ODI series between India and South Africa was played at the Newlands, Cape Town. It was a series that was dominated by Virat Kohli with the bat and he did the same here as well.

South Africa won the toss and put India into bat. The Men in Blue made 303/6 in 50 overs with Kohli making 160* in 159 balls with 12 fours and 2 sixes. Dhawan made 76 to help Kohli lead the team to a formidable total. The spin twins Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal picked four wickets apiece to keep the Proteas to 179 runs as India won the match by 124 runs.

153, Centurion, 2018

India had come into the three-match Test series in South Africa in January 2018 with lots of hopes of doing. However, they were defeated in the first Test match but were looking to bounce back in the second match at Centurion.

South Africa had batted first and made 335 runs in the 1^st innings with Hashim Amla top-scoring with 82. R Ashwin picked four wickets, while Ishant picked three. India replied in kind with 307 runs, but the innings of the match came from Virat Kohli, who played a lone hand of 153 runs with 15 fours. The next best score was 46 from M Vijay. Kohli’s innings was full of amazing shots on a pitch where other batsmen struggled to get going.