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- By Gurmeet Batra
- Sun, 30 Nov 2025 07:20 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
India National Cricket Team vs South Africa National Cricket Team Match Scorecard: Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif heaped praise on star batter Virat Kohli for his stellar performance in the ongoing first ODI against South Africa, acknowledging the veteran batter's relentless determination as a way to silence his critics.
Kohli made a menacing start to his innings and has looked precarious as he raced to 22 off 20 and soon completed his 76th ODI half-century in just 48 balls with a six against Corbin Bosch, having scored a century in the 38th over with a boundary.
"Virat Kohli has a zidd to prove his critics wrong.. King for a reason," Kaif posted on X.
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Virat kohli has a zidd to prove his critics wrong.. King for a reason.
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) November 30, 2025
Moreover, Kohli, along with former captain Rohit Sharma, smashed the all-time Indian record held by Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid for having played the most international matches together during the first ODI against South Africa in Ranchi on Sunday.
Kohli, playing his 306th ODI, and Rohit, playing in his 277th one-day international, merged for their 392nd international match jointly across formats, overtaking the legendary duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who appeared in a whopping 391 games between 1996 and 2012.
Virat kohli shows old is still good. Shower of sixes to set tempo, holding on as wickets fell and all out aggression after reaching 100. Master class in pacing the ODI innings, lesson for youngsters who struggled towards the end.
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) November 30, 2025
Rohit and Virat also put up a 136-run stand for the second wicket after the two joined forces when opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was caught behind off Nandre Burger with India's score at 25. This was the 20th partnership of 100 runs or more between the two.
Kaif also heaped praise on Rohit for his 57-run innings, during which he shattered the former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi's world record for most sixes in ODIs by hitting three maximums.
"Rohit Sharma is letting his bat do the talking and telling the world that age is just a number. What a player," Kaif wrote in another post.
(With IANS Inputs)