'One who was aggressive in the Powerplay, and the other after the Powerplay when wickets were falling he turned into an adamant batter, who batted sensibly and was not ready to give away his wicket.'
Irfan Pathan lauded Virat Kohli after the batting maestro starred with a match-winning century against South Africa in the first One-Day International in Ranchi on Sunday.
Kohli smashed a brilliant 135 runs from 120 balls -- his 52nd ODI hundred -- as India won the game by 17 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three match series.
The 37 year old showed incredible fitness as he ran a staggering 49 runs between the wickets, including 40 singles, while slamming seven sixes and 11 boundaries.
Pathan said he witnessed two facets of Kohli's batting during the first one-dayer.
'If you see this century, you will notice two Virat Kohlis -- one who was aggressive in the Powerplay, and the other after the Powerplay when wickets were falling he turned into an adamant batter, who batted sensibly and was not ready to give away his wicket. So you saw two type of batting approaches from Virat Kohli,' Pathan said on his YouTube channel.
'This is only possible when you have a lot of experience, and Virat Kohli has a lot of experience, he has fitness,' the former all-rounder added.
'Despite South Africa's bowling well with the new ball, Kohli looked comfortable from the start, and when he was batting he looked in a different zone. He hit two sixes in the Powerplay, the last time he did that was way back in 2017. Overall, he hit seven sixes in his knock, the highlight was his six over point.'
Ruturaj Gaikwad, who made a comeback to the Indian team after 16 months, failed to grab his chance as he perished after scoring just eight runs. All-rounder Washington Sundar, who was promoted to No. 5, also couldn't make most as he was dismissed for 13.
'Ruturaj Gaikwad wasted his opportunity so did Washington Sundar, who was sent up the order. But Rohit Sharma's knock was excellent, even K L Rahul played a great knock coming in at No. 6. Ravindra Jadeja finished off the innings well,' he said.
'The way the Indian team performed in this match, one thing is certain, the form that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are carrying, I am really enjoying it,' Pathan pointed out. 'I hope they continue playing as much as possible.'
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