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Shocked that South Africa didn’t go for a win: Kohli

Virat Kohli on Sunday said the Indian team was ‘shocked’ that the hosts did not go for victory in the dying moments of the match, which ended in an exciting draw.

The Proteas fell short by eight runs in a pulsating Test match, finishing at 450 for 7, while chasing 458 for victory at Wanderers.

“Everyone was pretty shocked honestly, we didn’t think that they would stop going for the score because with eight runs an over and with Philander striking the ball pretty well and he can bat, we have seen that in the past,” Kohli, who was adjudged Man of the Match for scoring 215 runs in two innings, said.

The Proteas fell short by eight runs in a pulsating Test match, finishing at 450 for 7, while chasing 458 for victory at Wanderers.

“I don’t know what happened. We had our plans and that was going for the wickets but to see them not going for that score was pretty surprising for all of us.

“In the end, it was a very enjoyable Test match. It was a fair finish for this Test match. The way this match has been played over the last four days, pretty competitive with both teams coming back pretty strongly in one session or the other, it was a fair finish,” Kohli added, outlining team India’s happiness at the draw achieved.

India were denied by Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers as they shared a 205 run partnership for the fifth wicket. Both batsmen went on to complete their respective hundreds as South Africa edged closer to the win. But their dismissal changed the match.

Meanwhile, Indian captain MS Dhoni lauded his batsmen, especially Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who made an impressive return to international cricket after 12 months.

“We had a basic amount of knowledge of the conditions in the ODI games. We usually play only one spinner outside India and we needed a big effort from the quicks and they delivered. Our batting did extremely well too, with Virat and Pujara and Vijay too to blunt the new ball,” said Dhoni.

Dhoni was confident that his bowlers would have defended the target of 458 they had set for South Africa to win the match. “I was confident if there were five runs to defend per over and they would pull it off. We might have been a little too attacking in the lead-up but this experience will help them know when to throttle down and pump it up,” he said.