India and South Africa are involved in the New Year Test at Newlands in Cape Town and some intriguing action is in progress in the middle. After opting to bat first, South Africa have been skittled for just 55 runs courtesy Mohammed Siraj's six-wicket haul in the first session of the day. However, the hosts have come out with great intent with the ball and have taken the aggressive route with Nandre Burger trying to get under the skin of Virat Kohli.
The incident happened in the 15th over of the innings when Kohli played a front foot defence on one of the deliveries and the ball went back to Burger. This is when the bowler collected the ball and threatened to throw the ball at the batter in his followthrough. Moreover, Burger also walked towards Kohli aggresively while staring at him constantly. In response, Kohli also stared at him and smiled back. Burger almost won the battle as the former India skipper went for a booming drive outside thew off-stump only for the ball to travel between the second slip and gully fielder.
The fascinating battle between them continued for a couple of more overs as Kohli played and missed quite a few deliveries off Burger even as the bowler continued to be aggressive against him. So far, the Indian batter has kept his cool as the conditions aren't easy to bat at all. The visitors have also four wickets so far and Kohli is a crucial cog in the wheel for India at the moment.
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As far as India's innings is concerned, runs have come at a fair clip with the visitors' run-rate being close to 5. The lead in the first innings has also gone past 50 already but the form of some batters is certainly worrying. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer bagged ducks while Rohit Sharma looked good for his 39 before getting out to Burger. The left-arm pace bowler is threatening to run-through the line-up and team India batters will have to be careful of him in this Test match too.
