During India’s overwhelming defeat to South Africa in the first Test on Thursday, veteran batsman Virat Kohli made history by becoming the first player to achieve 2000 runs in seven separate calendar years.
India was destroyed in three days by South Africa’s accurate pace and Dean Elgar’s graceful 185. When Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, and Nandre Burger proved to be too dangerous for the other batters to handle, Kohli amassed runs rapidly by hitting quick singles and boundaries. In the innings and 32 run loss to India, he scored 76 off 82 balls, bringing his 2023 total to 2006 runs.
In 2012 (2186 runs), 2014 (2286 runs), 2016 (2595 runs), 2017 (2818 runs), 2018 (2735 runs), and 2019 (2455 runs), he had already accomplished the feat. As play entered the third day, India captain Rohit Sharma’s awful run in South Africa persisted, particularly against Kagiso Rabada. Rohit was caught off guard by Rabada’s inward angling delivery, failing to read the line and sending the ball smashing into the stumps. It was the seasoned right-hand batter’s seventh dismissal in 11 innings against Rabada after he was removed for an eight-ball duck. Despite Yashasvi Jaiswal’s best efforts, the ball passed through his glove and fell directly into the wicketkeeper’s hands.
Shubamn Gill was destined to play a significant amount of time on the field, but his attempt to play a straight-line shot was unsuccessful. Gill left with a score of 26(37), and Marco Jansen made his first choice.
South Africa hit hard at India after a poor start to their second innings, dismissing KL Rahu and Shreyas Iyer in rapid succession. Once Burger substituted a golden duck for Ravichandran Ashwin, India’s destiny was all but decided.
A feeling of dismay after Dean Elgar’s outstanding effort in the field, and Jasprit Bumrah’s runout. Mohammed Siraj brilliantly reviewed the situation and saw that the ball was gloving straight to the wicketkeeper. India’s struggle was over in the first three days when Jansen defeated Kohli (76), despite a valiant effort by Prasidh Krishna.
