Virat Kohli is on Fire - breaks another record

The newly married groom and Indian Cricket Team Captain, Virat Kohli has yet again proved himself.There is no stopping to the most popular cricketer, on Friday, in the sixth ODI between India versus South Africa, Virat smashed his 35th ODI and third of the series. That helped India beat a comfortable eight-wicket win over the host. Virat broke a host of records during his innings of 129. In the six-match series, Kohli hit a total of 558 runs averaging 186. Chasing the modest target, India lost Rohit Sharma (15) early in the fourth over to Lungi Ngidi. But Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan added 61 runs for the second wicket in nine overs while keeping the scoring rate high. Dhawan, after a watchful 18 off 34 balls, became the second wicket of Ngidi in the 13th over.

1. Became the highest scoring batsman in a bilateral series surpassing Rohit Sharma’s 491 against Australia in 6 matches in 2013/14 season.

2. Became the highest scoring captain surpassing George Bailey’s 478 against India in 2013/14.

3.Scored his 56th International century and became the 5th most prolific century-maker in international cricket behind Sachin Tendulkar (100), Ricky                      Ponting (71), Kumar Sangakkara (63) & Jaques Kallis (62).

4. Became the 1st Indian captain to win a bilateral ODI series in South Africa.

5. Became the highest scoring player in a bilateral series against South Africa in South Africa. He scored 558 runs surpassing Kevin Pietersen’s 454.

6. He is also tied with Kevin Pietersen’s 3 centuries against South Africa in South Africa, in a bilateral series.

India though reached the 100-run mark in 14.3 overs. And Kohli soon raced to his 47th ODI fifty in just 36 balls, hitting nine boundaries. Kohli and Rahane made sure that there were no more hiccups in the chase.

Earlier, Indian bowlers proved Kohli's decision to field right as they bowled out South Africa for 204 in 46.5 overs.

Sharda Thakur, who replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar, made his return a memorable one by taking four wickets for 52 in 8.5 overs. Thakur provided the early breakthroughs and Hardik Pandya (1/39) along with spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (2/38) and Kuldeep Yadav (1/51) kept the run-flow in check in the middle overs and shared four Proteas wickets. Jasprit Bumrah (2/24) also chipped in with two wickets

The Indian captain took two catches in the South African innings to help dismiss Heinrich Klaasen and Imran Tahir to notch up a century.That makes him the seventh Indian cricketer to take a 100 catches or more in ODI cricket.

What makes this achievement all the sweeter is the fact that, just before the start of the ODI series, the Indian team was subjected to a lot of flak for their poor fielding show during the Test matches.

Kohli’s 100th catch was of the bowling of Jasprit Bumrah to account for Imran Tahir’s wicket which saw the Proteas get bowled out for 204. The Indian captain who is also considered the master of the chase, then did what he does best – took India over the line in emphatic fashion with more than 15 overs still to spare.

With the T20 series about to commence, India, coached by Ravi Shastri will hope the Indian captain can continue to with his fruitful ways, both with the bat and on the field.