Former Indian captain Virat Kohli survived some tough moments during his innings on Day 1 of the second Test. The Indian batsman was unbeaten on 20 when Tea was recalled on the opening day of the second Test in Cape Town. India were at 111/4.
India lost the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal in the third over of their innings. Rohit Sharma played a counter-attacking 36 off 50 balls before also falling to Nandre Burger. Shubman Gill, who looked good in the 36th over, also fell to Burger when he overtook him and slipped. Both catches were caught by Marco Jansen.
Virat Kohli started his innings with an early boundary. He played some sharp shots to start his innings. In between, he survived some dangerous situations before the tea break. Meanwhile, just before tea, India lost Shreyas Iyer’s wicket for a duck and he also edged one from Nandre Burger.
In the 24th Indian innings, Kohli was bowled on the leg side by Marco Jansen. The referee overturned the appeal and Dean Elgar, the South African captain, took the DRS.
As it turned out, replays showed that it was the referee’s decision and referee Ahsan Raza’s decision was upheld. Kohli, who survived some close calls, started agitating the South African fielders.
Dean Elgar couldn’t just criticize Kohli saying that he was lucky to survive some close calls. “Oh, you’ve survived a close fight,” Elgar said when Kohli went unbeaten against Marco Jansen.
Watch – Dean Elgar-Virat Kohli engage in funny banter
Kohli was quick and on point with his response, reminding him that Elgar had much luckier with his close calls against Ravichandran Ashwin from the 2021 series.
Virat Kohli survives an umpire’s decision.
Dean Elgar: “Oh, you’ve survived a close one”
Virat Kohli: “Oh please this was much higher than what you got from Ash in 2021″😭😭😭pic.twitter.com/fxbHXxm5lQ
– MAGNUM (@magnum_vk18) January 3, 2024
“Oh please, this was much higher than what you got from Ash in 2021,” was Kohli’s response.
South Africa leads the series 1-0 and Dean Elgar has so far had a big role to play in the lead. His knock of 185 in the first Test proved to be the difference between the two teams. Elgar is also South Africa’s sixth highest run-getter in Test cricket. Only six South African batsmen have scored more than 6,000 Test runs and Elgar follows closely on the list in eighth position. He has 5335 runs in 86 Test matches at an average of 37.84.
In the pre-match press conference before the second Test, Elgar said that winning a Test series against India is similar to winning the World Cup for him. He wants them to adopt the mentality that this is a series they should not share because it will be played at home and with the final game at home for many of the players.
“We are in a fortunate position knowing that we cannot lose the series, but a draw may be as big of a loss for us. It is a huge test for us, being our standout test of the year. In the New Year’s Test at Newlands, they don’t get much bigger or better, against some really tough opposition. Playing the New Year’s test is important for the boys and they are going to have many firsts, so we want them to live that moment, but take into account the opportunity to win 2 to zero. Drawing the series is not something we are thinking about at all.” Elgar asked during the pre-match press conference.
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