India skipper Virat Kohli continued his domination in the limited-overs cricket as he recorded his 34th One-day International hundred in the third match of the ongoing six-match ODI series against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town on Wednesday (February 7).
After being put into bat by stand-in Proteas skipper Aiden Markram, India didn’t experience the best of start as Rohit Sharma perished for duck to Kagiso Rabada. However, the Indian captain was as determined as ever to help him team put up a good total. Kohli was on a duck, when the on-field umpire gave him out LBW but the snicko showed that he had nicked the ball, giving him a big let-off. The 29-year-old then didn't look back as he brought up his second century of the ODI series in 119 balls.
Kohli forged a 140-run stand the second wicket with left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan (76 off 63 balls) before the Men in Blue lost the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik pandya, MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav in quick session.
The middle order collapse though didn’t restrain Virat’s run-scoring as he put on an unbeaten 67-run stand for the 7th wicket with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (16 off 19 balls). Kohli remained unbeaten on 160 off 159 balls as the hosts set a stiff target of 304 for the Proteas.
Seeing yet another Kohli master class, the Twitterverse went berserk in praise of the Indian captain. While some termed him as a run machine, others called him a true champion of his craft.
Here are some of the tweets:
Yet another ???? for @imVkohli ... the hunger & consistency is remarkable ... the Greatest ever ODI player ??? #SAvIND
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 7, 2018
Another hundred for @imVkohli. Just incredible how he continues to set the bar higher and higher. Keep scoring them bro! ???? pic.twitter.com/dAWwBaROpR
— MANOJ TIWARY (@tiwarymanoj) February 7, 2018
Run machine @imVkohli kya baat hai Teri, yeh bandha alag level ka player hai ????????????????????????⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ @BCCI #IndvsSA
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) February 7, 2018
Death, Taxes and Kohli scoring an ODI Hundred... #34 #SAvIND
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) February 7, 2018
India’s run machine has done it again! 34th ODI 100. What a player!@ImVKohli May this form of yours go on and on! SAvsIND
— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) February 7, 2018
Again!?!? ???????? https://t.co/yyahg9ggh8
— Danielle Wyatt (@Danni_Wyatt) February 7, 2018
I suspect Virat enjoys running between the wickets more than hitting 4s & 6s. Another international hundred built on hard running between the wickets. What a champion!????????????????#Kohli #SAvsIND
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) February 7, 2018
Congratulations @imVkohli Run machine well played keep going ????????
— Ishwwar pandey (@pandey_ishwar) February 7, 2018
Unstoppable. Kohli is scoring centuries like he's turning pages in a book.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) February 7, 2018