In fact, Tendulkar and Kohli are the only two captains from the subcontinent to score a Test century in South Africa.
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Kohli might have the conditions going for him, but he still had to face some high-quality bowlers executing their plans to near perfection.
But De Villiers would also have realised the importance of his own wicket, given the situation – SA leading by just 31 runs at the time he arrived at the crease – and he’d have wanted to put his own stamp on proceedings. It was ideally the keeper’s catch, and Elgar-de Villiers remained undeterred. He accounted for both Aiden Markram (1) and Hashim Amla (1) in the space of three overs as South Africa were reduced to three for two in the sixth over. Kohli continued playing that defensive shot to these balls that gets him into trouble on pitches that seam, but here he was good enough to middle them more often than not.
Starting from overnight 183/5, Kohli and Hardik Pandya (15) took their overnight sixth wicket partnership to 45 runs. He admitted, shortly after confirming his return to the sport’s premier format, that the time away had given him an opportunity to refine parts of his technique and even learn some new tricks.
Kohli’s positive approach – big strides forward, confident leaves and some purring drives – pushed Kagiso Rabada out of the attack and allowed Vijay to continue his solid resistance. “I think he backs his strength totally, and I am hopeful he will take the game away from South Africa”.
Ashwin then induced a thin edge off Faf du Plessis (63) that was spilled by Parthiv as the frustration grew for the visitors.
South Africa will say that India started it.
The Indian openers took the score to 28 before losing their first wicket when Lokesh Rahul (10) was caught and bowled by Morne Morkel (1-24), misjudging a delivery that held up on the surface.
But Kohli got an able ally in Ashwin and the offspinner continued to showcase his batting prowess, supporting his skipper in an incredible 71-run stand that gave India the momentum they needed on Day 3. Kohli brought up his 150 with a pull to the mid-wicket boundary and a sedate celebration followed as he kissed his India badge on the helmet and the locket he wears.
Morkel finished with four for 60, taking the last three wickets, including that of Ishant Sharma, who could only fend a vicious bouncer to short leg. That has rather fallen by the wayside in recent encounters between South Africa and India, when preparing pitches in favour of the home bowlers has been the trend. You need to try a lot of things but we had runs on the board in the first innings to try different things.
But another show of quality batsmanship was on the cards for the sparse crowd at the SuperSport Park on the Monday afternoon. “I look at it as an opportunity and learn from it”, said the Indian pacer.
The former made batting look easy on an increasingly hard track and in doing so, put on 57 runs for the third wicket with Elgar.
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The one-hour rain break ensured that the conditions further supported the Indian bowlers, but there was no breaking through the defence of AB.
