South Africa vs India 2018, 3rd Test - 5 Things which went right for India

#2 Kohli, Pujara and Rahane show “intent” with the bat

There was one word that was doing rounds in Virat Kohli’s press conferences and that word was “intent”. The Indian skipper wanted his players (especially the batsmen) to come out and show intent. For him, intent didn’t necessarily mean being aggressive and looking to score all the time but to show some fight and determination.

Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara showed the way in the first innings with the bat. On a tough pitch, Kohli (scoring 54) was his usual self, driving exquisitely, respecting the good deliveries. On the other hand, Pujara was keen on surviving early in his innings (as he took 54 deliveries to get off the mark in the first innings) and then later cashing on.

In the second innings, the pitch became tougher to bat on, but the way Virat Kohli batted was sublime. The 41 he made was simply superb on this challenging pitch. Ajinkya Rahane who was left out of the side for the first two Tests was the other batsman who looked good. Rahane scored 48 as he counter-attacked brilliantly and took India’s total to 200. Also, credit to Murali Vijay battled it out in the second innings. Thus, his 127-ball knock in the second innings was also crucial.

The heart of this Indian batting line-up (No. 3, 4 and 5) showed how to display intent in this Test match.