Published: Dec 29, 2023, 10:27 AM (IST)
Edited: Dec 29, 2023, 10:27 AM (IST)
Despite India’s overwhelming defeat to South Africa in the first Test on Thursday, legendary batsman Virat Kohli made history by becoming the first player to achieve 2000 runs in seven different calendar years. South Africa’s accurate pace and Dean Elgar’s graceful 185 destroyed India in three days. When Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, and Nandre Burger proved to be too dangerous for the other batters to handle, Kohli amassed runs rapidly by hitting quick singles and boundaries.
He scored 76 off 82 balls, bringing his 2023 total to 2006 runs.
Previously he had accomplished the feat in 2012 (2186 runs), 2014 (2286 runs), 2016 (2595 runs), 2017 (2818 runs), 2018 (2735 runs), and 2019 (2455 runs). As far as official records go, no other player has accomplished the feat since the inception of international cricket in 1877.
As play entered the third day, India’s captain Rohit Sharma’s awful run in South Africa persisted, particularly against Kagiso Rabada. Rohit was caught off guard by Rabada’s inward angling delivery, failing to read the line and sending the ball smashing into the stumps. It was the seasoned right-hand batter’s seventh dismissal in 11 innings against Rabada after he was dismissed for an eight-ball duck.
On the other hand Yashasvi Jaiswal’s best efforts, the ball passed through his glove and fell directly into the wicketkeeper’s hands.
Shubamn Gill was bound to play a substantial amount of time on the field, but his effort to play a straight-line shot was unsuccessful. Gill left with a score of 26(37), and Marco Jansen took his first wicket.
South Africa took India by surprise when they removed KL Rahu and Shreyas Iyer in short succession, following a timid start to their second innings.
India’s destiny was essentially set when Burger displaced Ravichandran Ashwin for a golden duck.
There was dismay when Jasprit Bumrah was run out after Dean Elgar had played brilliantly in the field. Mohammed Siraj was caught gloving the ball straight to the wicketkeeper by the South Africa squad after a great review.
Despite a valiant effort by Prasidh Krishna, India’s battle was over in the first three days when Jansen defeated Kohli (76).
