Picture : Twitter / BCCI
India is keen to maintain the winning momentum and the side is not thinking of letting the aggression down . India captain Virat Kohli, , said they will not ‘take their feet off the gas’ and will aim for a whitewash when the third and final Test against South Africa begins in Ranchi. The latest series win is the side’s 11th consecutive one at home .
Battling legend Sachin Tendulkar tweeted his congratulations to the team for the feat
Congratulations to #TeamIndia on winning 11 series back to back at home! Incredible consistency shown by the boys to achieve this record. Well played.#INDvsSA pic.twitter.com/9EBVjt95ll
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) October 13, 2019
India beat South Africa by an innings and 137 runs in the second Test to seal the series, having won the series-opener in Visakhapatnam.
“Looking at the larger picture of the Test championship, every game has value, whether it is at home or away, that is the format. So, we’re not going to take our foot off the gas in the third Test,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation.
“No one is going to relax at any stage, we are going to go for a result in the third Test and hopefully make it 3-0, that’s a guarantee,” he said.
Asked about his 178-run partnership with vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane for the fourth wicket, Kohli said, “I really enjoy batting with Jinx (Rahane). When we have a partnership we invariably take the game forward.”
For superstar Kohli the match was a fine one as he broke several records and proving why is legend in the making if not one already . He crossed the 7000 Test runs mark. It was his 50th Test as skipper and he hammered his highest ever Test score a majestic unbeaten 254. It was his 7th double ton . Kohli thus went past Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar for the most double hundreds in Test cricket by an Indian.
Virat Kohli is now joint 4th in the list of most double centuries in Tests with Wally Hammond of England and Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka. Only Don Bradman (12), Kumar Sangakkara (11) and Brian Lara (9) have more Test double hundreds than Kohli.
Kohli also surpassed Australian legend Don Bradman as the captain with most scores of 150 and above and equaled former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting’s record of scoring the most number of centuries as Test captain.
