Video: When MS Dhoni handed a stump to Virat Kohli

Kohli celebrates after reaching his century

Virat Kohli’s magnificent 138 runs led the fight back of the Indian team against the visiting South Africa side to level the 5-match ODI series by 2-2. This was Kohli’s first century against the Proteas and his 23rd in total.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed his happiness after winning the match as he handed over the stump to Kohli. The smiling faces were back in the Indian squad as the do-or-die match was won at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai.

When Dhoni handed over stump to Kohli (Credit: Indian Cricket Team Facebook page)

It's 2-2! MS Dhoni takes a stump. Hands it over to Virat. Well done, boys. #INDvsSA

Posted by Indian Cricket Team on Thursday, 22 October 2015

India won the match by 35 runs as South Africa failed to chase down the 300 runs target. Kohli played an aggressive innings and was hammering every loose ball which he was offered by the visitors bowlers. His innings included six boundaries and five huge sixes.

The 26-year-old Kohli moved into the second spot behind Sachin Tendulkar in the list of Indian players with the highest number of ODI centuries. Kohli's score of 138 was his third highest ODI score and his 23rd century in the 50-over format.

The century at Chennai was Kohli’s first ODI century against South Africa and with this he completed the set of scoring ODI centuries against all the Test playing nations.

Speaking in the after match conference, Dhoni praised Kohli for stand-out performance and said that Kohli always has big innings in his mind.

"Virat is somebody, right from the very start - and not today, I'm talking about the ODIs when he started - he was always someone who was very keen on improving his game. And even when he would get out scoring a 60 or a 70, he wanted to convert it into a hundred.

"Just watching how he plays his 50 to 60 and 100 to 110 - because a lot of times these are the brackets where you see a lot of batsmen getting out - so once he crosses that, with the kind of mindset he has he will always play a big innings," Dhoni said.

The final match of the series will be played in Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium on October 25.