Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 72 runs to help India beat South Africa by seven wickets in the second T20I match at Mohali on Wednesday. During his 52-ball knock, the skipper hit four fours and three sixes, including one of the slickest maximums.
Chasing a target of 150 runs, Kohli arrived in the centre in the fourth over after the fall of Rohit Sharma at the score of 33. The 30-year-old then took charge of the proceeding, playing a typical 'Kohli knock,' replete with sublime strokes and relentless accumulation of singles and doubles.
In the 17th over, he hit the first ball off Kagiso Rabada with such nonchalance that the ball hardly touched the blade. Reading the length early, the right-handed batsman stayed back and caressed the ball over backward square boundary, into a delirious crowd.
Watch it here:
During the South African innings, he also took a blinder of a catch to dismiss his rival number, Quinton de Kock, who was threatening to take the Indian bowlers apart. The wicketkeeper-batsman made 52 off 37 balls with eight fours before becoming Navdeep Saini's lone victim in the 12th over.
Watch the catch here:
India won the match by seven wickets with one over to spare, and in the process, Kohli overtook his deputy Rohit to become the batsman with most runs in T20Is. He now has 2441 runs at an average of 50.85, from 66 innings as against Rohit's 2434 from 89 knocks.
Kohli became the only batsman, again, to average more than 50 in all three formats of the game. He has 53.14 from 135 innings in Tests and 60.31 from 230 innings in ODIs.
The third and final match will be played at Bengaluru on Sunday.
The first match at Dharamsala was abandoned due to rain.
