The Indian team won the third T20I against the South Africans by seven
runs, and that enabled Virat Kohli and boys to register a 2-1 series
win. It was a close affair as the Proteas came close the Indian target,
but Bhuvneshwar Kumar held his nerve to take India through to the finish
line.
After the win Kohli took Twitter, and
seemed to celebrate with his teammates. He tweeted, "Great way to end a
wonderful tour and time for us as a team. Jai hind
Having won the the ODI series 5-1 earlier, the Indian boys were at their
best in the T20Is too. But Kohli refused to bask in his team’s success
in South Africa.
After the series winning effort Kohli said, "I’d say we are still 80 percent."
"When we are able to achieve what we want to in the two tours (England
and Australia), we’ll be more content. But our 80 percent is also
exciting. To be a world-class side, you have to be 100 percent."
Kohli will leave South Africa on Sunday having dazzled with his batting artistry and his no-holds-barred captaincy style.
It is doubtful whether any visiting captain in modern times has made a
greater impact than Kohli, who stated on arrival that his India team
feared no opposition nor any conditions. "We look at the pitch and adapt
to the conditions," he said. "Every game is a home game. It’s as simple
as that."
His early press conference set the tone for the tour. Articulate,
occasionally combative with journalists who challenged, for instance,
his selection policies, Kohli stayed true to his mantra of playing
positive cricket and not taking a backward step.
He did not complain about the seam-friendly Test pitches prepared for
South Africa’s fast bowlers, even though ICC match referee Chris Broad
rated the pitches for the first two Tests "average" and his successor
Andy Pycroft condemned the pitch used for the third Test at the
Wanderers as "poor".
Kohli’s response was that sub-standard pitches helped his bowlers as
much as they helped the South Africans. Although India lost the first
two Tests, they were competitive in both and made the best of the worst
conditions by winning the third Test.