Irfan Pathan hails Virat Kohli’s fitness after 2nd ODI against South Africa

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan showered praise on Virat Kohli’s fitness after the second ODI against South Africa at Raipur on Wednesday. Kohli continued his rich form as he scored a fine knock of 102 runs off just 93 balls, scoring his 53rd ODI century.

The veteran batter added 195 runs off 156 balls for the third wicket with Ruturaj Gaikwad. Kohli, 37, is still running like a livewire between the wickets and he is consistently delivering in the 50-over version of the game.

Earlier on Sunday, Kohli had scored a match-winning knock of 135 runs off just 120 balls in the opening ODI at Ranchi.

“Firstly, we need to talk about Virat Kohli. A player aged 37, the way his fitness is, scoring back-to-back centuries, it shows in the way he jumps to celebrate. He jumps approximately 9 meters, shows what kind of focus he has. He started with two ducks in Australia but has scored at least 50 runs in the next three innings. After a knock of 74 runs in Australia, he has scored back-to-back tons. The challenge was different here. He understood that the pitch is slightly different here and had to play cautiously. Kohli started with a six but played cautiously whenever the ball was pitched outside off-stump,” Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube Channel.

Pathan praised Kohli for the way he ran hard between the wickets in the second game.

“What we are seeing regularly with Kohli is he is stepping out to fast bowlers and has plenty of time. When Kohli bats, it feels he has plenty of time. The way he stepped out to hit Marco Jansen’s short ball for six shows any other batter might not have that much time. Secondly, there is no weakness in running between the wickets. Once Ruturaj Gaikwad played a shot, he ran swiftly for the first run and ran second after a misfield. He converted another misfield into a third run. I saw Gaikwad is running way in front of the crease but Kohli is not doing that. He keeps watching the ball; hence, he gets that advantage,” he added.

The third and final ODI between India and South Africa will be played at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam, on Saturday.