Ind vs SA, Test 2, Day 2 of the ongoing Test match in Pune had a lot in an offer for the India cricket fans yet again. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane were unbeaten in the middle and all expected India to put a mammoth score for the visitors. Here’s the complete story of Ind vs SA, Test 2, Day 2.
Recap of Day 1
Mayank Agarwal brought up his second three-figure score in consecutive games after Virat Kohli decided to bat first. This was the just the foundation on which Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli batted comfortably and hit their individual half-centuries. Pujara scored 54 and Agarwal was dismissed on 108 for 195 deliveries.
Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane stayed unbeaten on 63 and 18. There were bright spots for the visitors in the performance of Kagiso Rabada. The pace ace ran through the entire top order and returned with a brilliant 3/48, dismissing India’s top three batsmen. But the lack of support from other bowlers, despite helpful conditions, meant South Africa ended in a troubled condition at the end of Day 1.
Ind vs SA, Test 2, Day 2 began with Kohli and Rahane standing tall in the middle. And they did live up to the expectations of the fans. Virat Kohli finally scored his first Test century of this year to bring an end to the draught. As always Virat kept on making and breaking records by piling more runs to his name.
Ind vs SA, Test 2, Day 2 – Kohli smashes a double
Ind vs SA, Test 2, Day 2 was the day of records fro the Indian Skipper. Kohli, at first scored his 26th Test century and then he went on to score his 7th Test double. Once he crossed the 150-run mark he surpassed the legendary Don Bradman. As a captain, Kohli has nine 150+ scores whereas Bradman has eight. Michael Clarke, Mahela Jayawardene, Brian Lara, and Graeme Smith are next huge names on the list with seven scores of 150+ each as Test captain. With the century Kohli became the only Indian to smash 40 international hundreds as captain and is now just one behind of Ricky Ponting’s total number of 41 centuries. Moreover, he equaled Ponting’s 19 century as a Test captain.
Virat Kohli is already playing his 50th Test match as skipper. Kohli also joined the elite list of Stephen Fleming, Alastair Cook, and Steve Waugh as only the 4th ever captain to score a century in his 50th game as the captain.
Kohli’s 7th double century means Kohli is currently the owner of most number of 200+ runs in the longer format. The list has names like Virender Sehwag (6), Sachin Tendulkar (6), Rahul Dravid (5), and Sunil Gavaskar (4).
The innings of 254 also saw Indian captain crossing the 7000-run mark in Test cricket. Among Indians, Virat Kohli is only the 7th player to score 7000 Test runs and he took 81 matches to achieve the feat. The full list once again has some legendary names like, Sachin Tendulkar – 15921 (200 matches), Rahul Dravid – 13265 (163 matches), Sunil Gavaskar – 10122 (125 matches), VVS Laxman – 8781 (134 matches), Virender Sehwag – 8503 (103 matches), Sourav Ganguly – 7212 (113 matches).
Kohli took 138 innings to reach the mark and became the third-fastest Indian batsman to do so. Virender Sehwag (134) and Sachin Tendulkar (136) are the two toppers. If we consider the world cricket, Â Kohli is now the joint 4th fastest to the landmark along with Gary Sobers and Kumar Sangakkara. Wally Hammond is the leading name in the list who achieved the feat in his 131st Test innings.
Reaching 7000 Test runs meant Kohli beat Bradman once again and this time on the list of most Test runs as a batsman as well, going past the legend’s tally of 6996 runs.
Rahane and Jadeja share load
Ajinkya Rahane did exactly what eas needed from him. He gave adequate support to the skipper and developed a partnership of 178 runs. In the course, he scored his personal half-century as well and was dismissed on a score of 58.
Ravindra Jadeja walked in and took the momentum right from the beginning. He went on to smash a 104-ball 91 to add a mammoth partnership of 225 for the fifth wicket along with the skipper. He hit a delivery that went towards long-off rather than straight, and de Bruyn did no mistake to pouch it comfortably. Jadeja fell short of nine runs from his second Test ton.
The captain leads from the front
After a certain point of time during Ind vs SA, Test 2, Day 2, India’s intention was clear. They were waiting for Jadeja’s century and a lot thought that the captain was waiting for his own triple ton as well. But Kohli impressed all when he immediately declared after Jadeja’s dismissal and did not think of his individual gain at all. The captain left the stage with 254*, an innings that would be etched forever.
Proteas struggling
South Africa started to crawl from the beginning. They were soon 2/1 in the second over, thanks to a terrific Umesh Yadav. Umesh once again gave the breakthrough to finish his day with 2/16 from four overs.
Umesh Yadav, playing his first Test since the Perth Test in December 2018 dismissed Aiden Markram (0) and Dean Elgar (6) in consecutive overs.
The final wicket of the day was scalped by last Mohammed Shami (1/3) as Temba Bavuma was sent for eight and the visitors were reduced to 36/3 at the end of Day 2.