Kohli struck his 64th fifty in the third ODI.
India and South Africa are currently battling in the third and final game of the ODI series at Newlands in Cape Town, which is already won by South Africa after their wins in the first two games.
Indian captain KL Rahul won the toss and elected to bowl first as South Africa were bowled out for 287 in the final over of their innings. Quinton de Kock scored 124, his 17th ODI hundred and sixth against India. Rassie van der Dussen with 52 and David Miller's 39 also helped the hosts to set a testing target of 288 for the visitors.
Prasidh Krishna took three wickets, as Jasprit Bumrah and Deepak Chahar grabbed two each. India took the last 7 wickets for 73 runs to restrict the hosts who seemed set for a score above 300.
In reply, KL Rahul departed cheaply for 9, but Shikhar Dhawan (61) and Virat Kohli (65) batted well to score their 35th and 64th half-century respectively in the format. Rishabh Pant disappointed with a poor shot on his first ball to get dismissed for a golden duck. India needed 116 runs off 96 balls at the time of writing this piece.
Kohli, who wasn't in the best of form on this tour, managed to score his second fifty of the series and soon after that he performed a special cradle celebration for daughter Vamika who was watching him play in the lap of her mother Anushka Sharma.
Virat and Anushka had until today not revealed the face of their one-year-old daughter to the world, hence the celebration by the former Indian captain was even more of a special moment for the family and those watching on television.