Virat Kohli's 3 best Test knocks in South Africa

Virat Kohli is India's second-best batter to play Test matches in South Africa. After Sachin Tendulkar, he's the top run-scorer with 719 runs at an average of 51.35 (the only Indian to average more than 50 after at least five matches). India have won only four Tests in South Africa and two of them came under Kohli's captaincy.

The upcoming two-Test series is, thus, a weird one for him. It's the first international rubber for him since perhaps the most heartbreaking defeat of his career in the 2023 World Cup final. And it's in a country where, around 24 months ago, he played his last Test as one of India's most celebrated captains.

However, Kohli, despite being the most animated character on the field, has always managed to rise above these emotions when he comes to bat. This has been the case in South Africa too as his three best performances here show:

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#3 153 in Centurion, 2018

It's not ironic that Kohli's highest score in South Africa is only his third-best knock in the country. It just reiterates that cricket scorecards rarely tell the complete truth.

2018 was the first difficult year of his captaincy with tours lined up in South Africa, England, and Australia. It started poorly with a close defeat to the Proteas in the first Test in Cape Town. Kohli was immediately under pressure for his captaincy and in the second, South Africa batted first and put up 335 in Centurion.

There was pressure of key mistakes in selections and a couple of dropped catches already but Kohli just ran through with flying colors when he got the bat. He put up 152 off 217 balls in India's score of 307 when no other batter could even cross 46.

He played the top-order and tail with him but lost them at the crucial moments and still kept going. The pitch was slow and reminiscent of India more than South Africa (which is why his top score isn't his best knock here) but the balance of attack and defense he showed in hardly playing any false shots was unmatchable.

India didn't have enough in their bowling arsenal to bowl South Africa down cheaply and lacked the luck and temperament to make use of the conditions with the bat, resulting in a heavy 135-run loss to make the series 2-0.

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#2 79 in Capetown, 2022

Early 2021 to late 2022 was the phase when everything was about the elusive century for Kohli. Before every knock, the question was, 'Will he break the draught today? Will he be ever back to his best?' The questions from fans were understandable because they were about a player who used to score 100s for fun.

However, the specific focus on a milestone meant that Kohli's many special innings went unnoticed because they weren't 100s. His knock in the first innings of the 36-all-out Test against Australia in Adelaide before he went home to be with his family was one of them. His 79 against South Africa in January 2022 was another.

Had he got 21 more runs that day, this innings would have been talked about for ages - how on a typical seaming South African wicket where batting seemed as difficult as ever on the first two days, Kohli exhibited batting.

Often criticized for his shot-making outside the off-stump, Kohli was inch-perfect that day, leaving every delivery that could trouble him and attacking each of the marginal errors from the bowlers. He batted 201 balls, almost equal to the rest of the top-six combined and more than anyone else in the match.

It was an innings where one ball was eventually going to have his name on it, which happened through Kagiso Rabada in the 73rd over, but Kohli made sure he got his team in as good a position as he could. The efforts went in vain again, though, as India lost by seven wickets.

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#1 119 in Johannesburg, 2013

In just his first Test innings in South Africa, Virat Kohli notched up a magnificent 100 to give a glimpse of his character, determination, and sense of leadership. Even 10 years since it could be considered one of his best overseas centuries.

Batting on a greenish top he put up 119 runs off 181 balls with 18 boundaries. It was another one of his leaving masterclasses - he left almost one-third of the deliveries against the attack of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Jacques Kallis, and Morne Morkel but still managed to attain a strike rate of 66.

Against the pace battery, he shelved most of his best shots and used them only to punish the bad deliveries whereas spinners Imran Tahir and JP Duminy just witnessed a master of spin at work and seemed to have no chance against him.

South Africa's bowling coach, Allan Donald, gave him the biggest compliment any cricketer at that time could have asked for.

"The one word that comes to my mind is responsibility," Donald said. "I think he [Kohli] showed great discipline and responsibility. It reminds me of Sachin Tendulkar when they came here in 1996. I was the first one to say back in 1996 that India didn't show much bottle, and that one person that jumps out and plays for the situation, plays for his team was Tendulkar. That's what came to my mind when I saw Kohli batting - the way he left the ball and when we were slightly off the line he punished the ball. He paced his innings very well. But for me, he was responsible today. He put up his hand today, and showed real fight. He was tight, and didn't give much away until the end."

He got out for 96 in the second innings and missed the opportunity to get twin 100s but India earned a well-deserved draw.