Virat Kohli (238 runs) is catching up with A.B. de Villiers (239) on the run chart of the Nelson Mandela-Mahatma Gandhi series.
The Indian’s form with the bat is as vital for the team at every stage of the game, as de Villiers is with his execution of outrageous shots.
Kohli anchoring the innings at No. 3 and spending time at the crease brings out the best in teammates at the other end. He enjoys doing the hard running at the start before bringing out his repertoire of strokes.
Knocks of 11, 12, 77 and 138 in the series suggest a big bang round the corner.
Though short on international exposure when compared to de Villiers (194 ODIs, 8284 runs at 53.79) or Indian skipper M.S. Dhoni (269, 8805, 52.41), Kohli (165, 6824, 50.92) is a proven match-winner.
de Villiers and Dhoni have been named Man-of-the-match once each and there is no better occasion than the decider for these two match-winners to rise to the occasion.
Paceman Morne Morkel, the Man-of-the-match on a slow track at Rajkot where he bounced out set batsmen, has 176 wickets from 103 ODIs at a strike rate of 29.3.
Others capable of moving up from supporting roles to lead actors at the Wankhede Stadium are Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar for the home team and Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis and Imran Tahir for the visitors.
