India vs South Africa- 2nd T20I: Virat Kohli stars as India go 1-0 up at Mohali

On Wednesday, India went past the visitors South Africa with ease, thanks to India's captain Virat Kohli's brilliance.

After the first T20I at Dharamshala which ended in no result due to rains, both the teams locked horns at Mohali. 

India asked the visitors to bat first, and Deepak Chahar gave India the first breakthrough by removing Reeza Hendricks.

South Africa then recovered because of the brilliant partnership between South African captain Quinton de Kock and the debutant Temba Bavuma. 

de Kock, who has a great record at Mohali, smashed 58 off 37 before getting out to Navdeep Saini. 

Bavuma brought his 'red-ball' experience to the game to score 49 off 43. In the end, South Africa managed 149 in their 20 overs. 

In return, Rohit Sharma played two beautiful pull shots to send two balls out of the park before getting out for 12 runs off 12 deliveries.  

Virat Kohli, who replaced Rohit Sharma, had a solid partnership with Shikhar Dhawan who scored 40 off 31 before getting out to a stunner from David Miller off Tabraiz Shamsi's delivery. 

The Indian team surprised everyone by opting to send Rishabh Pant at number four ahead of Shreyas Iyer. 

However, Pant once again disappointed everyone as he scored only four runs. 

The youngster possibly is facing the pressure and will be shown the door soon if he continues to perform this way. 

Shreyas Iyer who came in at number five had a minimal job to do. He scored 16* off 14. 

Kohli, on the other hand, stood unbeaten at 72 off 52 deliveries. He took India home safe, once again. 

The Indian captain during his knock became the highest run-getter in Men's T20I. 

Most Runs in T20I cricket-

Suzie Bates- 3100

Stephanie Taylor- 2900

Charlotte Edwards- 2605

Meg Lanning- 2569

Virat Kohli- 2441*

Rohit Sharma- 2434

Kohli now has most 50s in the shortest form of the game.

Most number of 50+ scores:

Suzie Bates (1 ton and 21 fifties)= 22

Virat Kohli (22 fifties)= 22*

Rohit Sharma (4 tons and 17 fifties)= 21

Stafanie Taylor (21 fifties)= 21

Virat Kohli now averages 50+ in all the three formats of the game. 

ODIs- 60.31, Tests-53.14, T20I- 50.85

Both the teams will now move to Bengaluru. The teams will clash for the final time in the shortest format on Sunday. 

Stat courtesy: ESPN CricInfo Statsguru

Image courtesy: News 18