Ind vs SA Live Report – Kohli fifty, Axar cameo give India 176

South Africa took out Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav inside five overs – the surest source of impetus for India in T20 cricket. They were able to control the game through the middle because of that. At the death though, which is exactly what Virat Kohli was waiting for all his innings, India broke free (42 runs in the last three). They have a total they can now bowl at and their bowling should benefit from this pitch, at least the spinners should. Their quicks might want to shorten their lengths more. SA will feel this is well within reach, although they will have to pull off the highest successful chase in 18 day games at the Kensington Oval.

This little nugget from out stats wiz Sampath Bandarupalli: Virat Kohli in middle overs today – 23 off 26 balls, 0 boundaries. There are 161 instances of an Indian batter facing 25-plus balls in a middle overs (7-16) in a men’s T20I but only two without hitting a boundary. The one before Kohli today was by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who scored 14 off 29 vs Sri Lanka in 2021, having been sent at No.6 due to lack of batters available for selection.