India vs South Africa: Statistical breakdown of Virat Kohli’s 159-ball 160

Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav picked four wickets apiece to help India to a commanding 124-run win in Cape Town but that was preceded by yet another batting masterclass from captain Virat Kohli. Kohli came in when Rohit Sharma was dismissed in the very first over of the match and was unbeaten on 160 off 15 balls at the end of the innings. A number of interesting statistics have sprung out of that innings:

– Having faced 159 balls, this was Kohli’s longest ODI innings surpassing the 143 balls he faced on his way to 183 against Pakistan in Dhaka.

– Kohli scored 100 of his 160 runs by running. He ran 75 singles (75 runs), 11 doubles (22 runs) and one three (3 runs). Only four other batsmen have run 100 more runs in an ODI innings and he is also the first Indian to do so. The previous highest for India is 98 in Sourav Ganguly’s 130-run innings against Sri Lanka in 1999.

– This was his 12th century as captain, thus going past Ganguly’s tally of 11 and thus becoming the Indian with most centuries as captain. He is only behind Ricky Ponting (22 tons in 220 innings) and AB De Villiers (13 in 98 innings) in the all time list.

– Kohi has scored 318 runs in the first three matches of this series. This is the most an Indian has scored in a series against South Africa and there are still three matches left in the series.

– He is the first Indian batsman to score more than one century in a series against South Africa and the fifth overall to do so. If he gets another, he will join Kevin Pietersen in becoming the only batsman to score three in a series.

– His 160 not out is the second highest score by an Indian in an ODI against South Africa. The highest is Sachin Tendulkar’s iconic 200 in 2010. It is also the third highest by any batsman against South Africa in South Africa after David Warner’s 173 in 2016 and Ricky Ponting’s 164 in 2006.

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