Before the first One Day International at Kingsmead, Durban, it was South Africa who won the toss and had opted to bat first. When India skipper Virat Kohli was questioned on being good chasers, the skipper just stated that they would do their best. Restricting the Proteas to 270 at Durban didn't seem that hard as the first ODI was fruitful for the spinners. The Indian batsman got off to a bright start as the openers started smashing right away, but out of all, there was no mountain high enough for the skipper as he hammered his 33rd ton and his first on South Africa soil.
Kohli said that the six-wicket victory in the first one-dayer against South Africa will give his side the momentum in the remainder of the six-match series.
"First match of the series is important. We wanted to take the momentum of the (third) Test win into this and when we restricted South Africa to 270 on this sort of a pitch, we were happy," Kohli, who hit 112 of 119 balls for his first ODI hundred in South Africa, said after the match.
Asked about his first hundred on South African soil, he simply said "Yeah it was quite special".
The Team India skipper was delighted to have Ajinkya Rahane at his side as the No.4 position batsman scored 79 runs of 86 balls and shared a 189 run partnership for the third wicket.
"Jinx (Rahane) is a top-class player. We understood fast bowling was going to be a big factor in this tour. He was superb, he took on the fast bowlers," said Kohli who was adjudged man of the match.
Kohli lauded the bowlers and said that the plan worked well with the seamers. "Bhuvi and Bumrah, we bank on them. Picking up one or two wickets in the top ten is what we wanted to do.
It was Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal's debut performance in South Africa and the two wrist spinners ended up collecting five wickets.
"And then the two wrist-spinners (Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal), outstanding bowling by both of them. They are working wonderfully for the team. They're playing in South Africa for the first time. They were very brave, they were throwing it up and that's why they got wickets.
"As a captain, it's outstanding when you have two guys who know what they want to do."
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said he was disappointed for his side's batting show.
"Definitely, we did not score enough, we did not bat well enough. I reckon we were about 50-60-70 runs short. Chris had a good partnership but as a batting unit we were disappointed," he said.
"When you're chasing five runs an over here, it's pretty easy. We tried everything with field placements and tactics but Virat and Rahane played very well."
Asked if he had suffered any injury while fielding, du Plessis said, "Just a few battle scars. Just went upstairs to get the fingers checked. One-day cricket the intensity is a lot higher. Happy to go through the game. Feeling strong.
(With PTI Inputs)
