Ranchi:smashed his 52nd century in one-day internationals and 83rd overall as India began the three-match series against South Africa on a winning note in Ranchi on Sunday, November 30. After losing the toss, Kohli, who scored an undefeated 74 in the October series finale against Australia, picked up where he left off in the home assignment. He appeared to be in superb form, hitting both fast bowlers and spinners with equal skill and leading India to a manageable first-innings score.
Captain also scored a quickfire 60, after had begun with a nice half-century, as 349 eventually proved to be enough for India, even though the Proteas did push the hosts to the final over of the match, with Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch not going down easily. After leading the team in 13 games, this was KL Rahul's ninth victory as captain in ODIs. His winning percentage increased to 69.23, the highest for any Indian captain in the format to have led the team in at least ten games.
Under Rahul, Kohli's numbers were superior to those of Dhoni and Rohit.Not just India's one-day performance, Kohli as a batter, too, has flourished under KL Rahul, the captain. This was Kohli's third international century across formats when Rahul was captain, including his only T20I century against Afghanistan during the 2022 Asia Cup. Kohli averages 66.37 under Rahul's captaincy, having scored 531 runs in 10 innings, including five in ODIs, four in Tests and the lone remaining one in the T20Is.
These are the best numbers for Kohli playing under another captain in terms of averages, having played a minimum of 10 innings. Under , Kohli scored 9,280 runs in 225 innings, while averaging 49.10. While with Rohit Sharma as captain, Kohli aggregated 3,682 runs in 101 innings, averaging 41.37 across formats.
Rahul might be captain for just this series due to the unavailability of both and Shreyas Iyer due to their respective injuries; however, Kohli would want to continue that record, especially with the form he is in. Rahul, too, will be keen to win the series as captain and get the job done on Wednesday itself in Raipur when India lock horns with the Proteas in the second game.
South Africa didn't get might things wrong, but they will rue the top-order collapse during the run-chase, as despite being 3/11 at one point, the Proteas managed to score 332 in a 350-run chase and will be keep the visitors in good stead ahead of the next couple of games.