SA vs IND, 2018: Gavaskar believes Virat Kohli's battle with Rabada is worth going miles

Virat Kohli has been in sublime form in the ongoing tour of South Africa and has almost single-handedly given India the edge over the hosts, winning the first three One-day Internationals.

The 29-year-old Kohli scored his 34^th ODI century in the third ODI fixture at the Newlands in Cape Town and also scored his second highest ODI score while remaining unbeaten on 160.

The batting mainstay Kohli struck his second hundred in three matches of the ongoing six-match series.

Kohli scored 112 runs in the first match in Durban and then scored an unbeaten 46 in the second ODI. Kohli’s performance in the limited-overs format has been outstanding of late and these two centuries in the ongoing series has stamped his authority over the rest of the batsmen in the world.

However, despite this incredible run of good form, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels that Kohli needs to vary of speedster Kagiso Rabada.

South Africa has been struggling with Faf Du Plessis, Quinton de Kock and AB De Villiers ruled out from the first three ODI’s due to injury and the team now trailing 3-0 after three ODI’s.

The South African morale’s will be given a boost in the fourth ODI with the return of AB de Villiers returning in the Pink-day ODI.

Talking about South Africa’s record in Pink Day ODI Gavaskar said: “South Africa are looking at history and hoping that the Pink day will continue to be a winning day for their team. They have as yet to lose a game played on Pink day where the team wears pink uniform to try spread awareness about breast cancer.” 

Gavaskar also added that even BCCI must do something about this noble cause: “The BCCI that comes in for criticism for the amount of money it makes could do well to take a leaf out of the Australian and South African boards and every season designate a day for a cause and thereby create awareness about it. The kind of following the game has, the cause would benefit immensely from the awareness created by that ODI game,” 

The 68-year-old also added that South Africa’s worry is Virat Kohli and not just the Indian spin duo, “While the Proteas are naturally concerned at the inability of their batsmen to tackle the Indian spin duo, the other big worry for them is Virat Kohli. The Indian skipper is in sublime form and has shown he is way above other batsmen in the world. His battle with Kagiso Rabada is worth going miles to watch and Rabada is the only bowler who the Indian skipper has had to watch out for.” 

Gavaskar concluded by saying that De Villiers can be a game changer for the hosts in the upcoming ODI’s, “There is also the not so small matter of the return of AB de Villiers to the South African line-up. The world knows what a game changer de Villiers can be and the Proteas will be hoping that he helps them turn things around and maintain their work record on the Pink day. He himself has played some incredible knocks on Pink days and another one could well be inspirational for the likes of Markram and company.”

Here’s the news feed:

SA vs IND 2018: South Africa Receives AB de Villiers Boost Ahead Of Fourth ODI

SA vs IND 2018: Kuldeep, Chahal Hold the Trump Card for India at World Cup: Kohli