IND vs SA 3rd ODI: Team India's Kohli can ’trick and treat us!

Virat Kohli during his 102 against SA in Raipur on Wednesday. Pic/PTI

There is no more consummate driver of the cricket ball than Virat Kohli. To watch him get his left foot to the pitch of the ball, bring the bat down with a flourish and break his wrists to keep the cherry down despite his hard hands is a sight for sore eyes, an event that has played itself on loop over the last few days.
But strap Kohli into a car and toss him the keys, and not even he will be able to drive with any comfort on the roads of Visakhapatnam.

The otherwise clean and beautiful port city can be a nightmare for first-time drivers. Not because the roads are little strips of asphalt around potholes, like in Bengaluru, but because they are in impeccable condition, thereby facilitating ease of negotiation. Vehicles of all hues pour in from all directions, necessitating one to be on their mental toes every second of the way. The search for a less offensive term to describe the Visakhapatnam traffic ends with ‘mayhem'.

Theme of this series is mayhem

Mayhem has been the theme of this ODI series, so perhaps it is in the fitness of things that, with the showdown all square at 1-1, the ACA-VDCA Stadium will stage the decider on Saturday. India and South Africa have gone hammer at tongs, racking up the highest aggregate in an ODI involving these sides in Ranchi on Sunday and topping that in Raipur three nights later. The ball has travelled far and wide, India barely managing to defend 349 in the first game before a combination of dew, South Africa's middle-order firepower and shoddy fielding, catching and bowling ensured 358 wasn't enough, not by a long way.

Kohli has been India's shining light in this series with back-to-back hundreds for the 11th time in his storied career. Only once before, against West Indies in October 2018, has Kohli conjured a hat-trick of ODI tons (Guwahati, Visakhapatnam and Pune). Given how switched on he appears in his new avatar as a one-format international only, don't rule out a three-peat.

SA's strong batting line-up

South Africa's quest to hunt down massive totals on absolute shirtfronts has been commendable, with a strong middle group complementing the class of openers Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock, yet to hit his straps. Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch lend muscle all the way through the order, though South Africa will be the first to admit that they have had the better of the batting conditions. Dew was a massive factor in Raipur, especially. Visakhapatnam might not be as dewy, though it might help if KL Rahul, standing in for the injured Shubman Gill, hits it lucky with the coin.

India have lost an astonishing 20 ODI tosses in a row, and while how the coin drops shouldn't decide outcomes, it often does. Maybe there is a compelling case for matches at this time of the year in India to start earlier than 1.30 pm to negate the impact of the dew.

For now, a series is on the line. South Africa eye a rare double after their 2-0 Test series sweep, India will believe it's payback time. Let the mayhem begin.

Three
No. of ODI centuries Virat Kohli has scored in seven outings at Vizag

97.83
Kohli's ODI average in Vizag, having scored 587 runs in seven matches