Superstar India cricketer Virat Kohli got huge praise from the fans for his gesture before the national anthem in the 2nd Test against South Africa in Cape Town.
India, trailing the series by 1-0 and looking for a win to level the series, took on South Africa in Cape Town on Wednesday. This is the last career Test match of Dean Elgar. South African skipper Dean Elgar won the toss and elected to bat first in Newlands, Cape Town.
Before the start of play, both teams lined up for national anthems. As is the tradition in cricket, that the national anthem of the visiting team is played first, India’s national anthem was played before South Africa’s.
The camera was on Virat Kohli, who was seen removing his sunglasses off right before the national anthem. Fans loved this gesture from Kohli, saying that the 35-year-old expressed his respect for the national anthem.
Watch: Virat Kohli removes his sunglasses before singing national anthem; gets praises from fans
hawt hawt rajaji put down his glasses for national anthem 🥺pic.twitter.com/qJ0WK7nFRz
— 🧑🏻🦯 (@murdockdrive) January 3, 2024
Meanwhile, South Africa won the toss in Cape Town and elected to bat first on a pitch that had some grass. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise for India as Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah took four wickets in their first spells in the first hour.
More importantly, India got Dean Elgar out for only 2 runs. Siraj took three wickets while Bumrah took one. Now it’s on to the change-up bowlers – Prasidh, Mukesh, and Jadeja – to keep the pressure on the South African batters.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar
South Africa (Playing XI): Dean Elgar(c), Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne(w), Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi
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