IND vs SA | Virat Kohli used the old ball to his advantage, believes Graeme Smith

Arguably South Africa’s most successful captain, Graeme Smith admired Kohli’s ability to take advantage of the old ball and a tired Proteas bowling attack. Kohli was magnificent in his unbeaten 254, becoming the Indian with the most double centuries in Test cricket (7) by overtaking Sachin and Sehwag (6).

Much to everyone's surprise, the track in Pune was conducive to fast bowling. Thus, on the morning of the second day, Kohli and Rahane carefully tackled the expected baptism of fire by Rabada and Philander. However, once the ball got old and batting got a bit easier, Kohli cashed in hitting the boundaries and picking the gaps at regular intervals, making South Africa sweat for saving every run. Smith pointed out the inability of the South African pacers to reverse swing the old ball and he praised Kohli for using their inability to his advantage.

"Rabada was not able to make good use of the old ball and that got him more frustrated. Whereas, Virat was able to use it at his advantage and went on to score big runs. Somewhere, South Africa are not able to put things in the right place till now," he said in Cricket Live on Star Sports, reported Times of India.

In the same show, former Indian fast bowler Irfan Pathan also had heaps of praises for Kohli, particularly for his selflessness. India could have easily batted for a longer time to help Virat get to his maiden triple hundred, but instead, Virat kept the interest of the team ahead and understood the possibility of having a crack at the South African batting order in trying conditions nearing the end of the day's play.

"It is commendable that Virat took the decision of declaring the innings rather than looking out for his milestone of achieving a triple hundred. He kept the team ahead of himself and the three wickets India were able to take shows how he made the right decision,"  he said.