Twitter Reactions: Virat Kohli makes merry of South Africa to slam his 7th double ton in Tests

You beauty Virat Kohli! The Indian captain has the second-best conversion rate in terms of converting his 50s into 100s after Don Bradman. Well, what about the double centuries? India’s run-machine is back to scoring runs and notching up tons at will and how! Kohli literally made merry of South Africa’s bowling on Day 2 of the second Test match in Pune and slammed seventh double century of his career in whites.

In the process, he also completed 7000 Test runs in 138 innings which is an exceptional achievement. As far as his heroic knock is concerned, Virat Kohli resumed his innings at 63 on Friday and didn’t think far too ahead. He respected the bowlers and gave them the first hour understanding the importance of the ongoing fourth-wicket partnership.

With the sun beating down and the second ball getting old, the help for the bowlers reduced considerably and soon the 30-year-old notched up his ton with a trademark straight drive off Vernon Philander just before lunch. And then the grind began again. He didn’t play a rash shot after getting to the milestone and was determined on scoring big.

Luck favours Kohli too

After the lunch though Virat Kohli switched gears and made sure that he didn’t play many dot balls. Ajinkya Rahane also played his shots when there was a ball to hit as they made South Africa toil hard. However, all wasn’t hunky-dory for the Indian skipper Keshav Maharaj induced a false shot off him not once or twice but thrice. The left-arm spinner bowled a flighted delivery in the good length on a couple of occasions.

And both the times, Kohli leaned forward to drive through the covers only to edge it to the slip where Faf du Plessis was stationed. However, once the ball was well wide of the fielder, and on the other occasion, the ball passed low and had Du Plessis been low in the slip, Kohli would’ve got out. But it was his day and Virat Kohli made the most of it.

Apart from that period of a couple of overs, the hosts’ skipper was extremely comfortable in the middle frustrating South African bowlers to the hilt. He went to the tea unbeaten on 194 and it was almost clear by then that the visitors were only waiting for India to declare. After the third session began, Kohli wasn’t in any hurry and collected singles on his way to yet another majestic double century.

And unlike his ton, Kohli got his 200th run with a double off Senuran Muthusamy to become the Indian with most double hundreds in Tests. As usual, when Kohli scores big, records are broken and get created and it was no different after his marathon knock in Pune.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: