Virat Kohli is playing like Kohli, as he has often done all his life, scoring centuries for fun and helping his team win matches. After scoring two back-to-back hundreds against South Africa in the last two ODIs in Ranchi and Raipur, Kohli smashed an unbeaten 65 in the final game in Vizag while chasing, and alongside centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal, stitched a 116-run stand for the second wicket to see his team home.
As a result, India won the match by nine wickets and claimed the three-match series (2-1).
Since securing successive ducks against Australia in his first two India games since March this year, Kohli has scored at least a fifty in his next four, including 302 in three matches against South Africa at 151. Reflecting on his batting performance amid all kinds of talks surrounding his ODI future, Kohli said scoring runs the way he has done in this series has been the most satisfying thing for him, adding that he doesn’t think he has played at this level in the past two or three years.
“Honestly, just playing the way I have in this series has been the most satisfying thing for me,” Kohli said at the presentation after the third ODI in Vizag.
“I don’t think I’ve played at this level for a good two-three years now, and I feel really free in my mind, and just the whole game is coming together nicely, [it’s] very exciting to build on. And something that I’ve always tried to do as a player, maintain my own standards that I’ve set for myself and play at the level that I can make an impact for the team.
“I know when I can bat like that out there in the middle, then it of course helps the team in a big way because I can bat long, I can bat according to the situation and just being confident makes me feel like any situation out there in the middle, I have what it takes to handle that situation and bring it in favour of the team,” he continued.
Meanwhile, Kohli broke plenty of records in this series. For his staggering tally, he won the Player of the Series award for the 22nd time in his career, 12th in One-Dayers alone. His 12 sixes across three matches are also his best tally in a series overall, including at the World Cups. Besides, his series strike rate of 117.05 is also his best in an ODI series since January 2023.