Virat Kohli had scored 49 runs against South Africa and was just one run away from his half-century. Instead of going for the 50-run mark, he asked Dinesh Karthik to keep hitting and wrap up the innings. The former Indian skipper sacrificed what could have been his 34th T20 international half-century.

“Kohli may have not made the 50, but he won brownie points and many hearts”, a social media user wrote. “Personal records never mattered for Virat Kohli”, another user wrote. Kohli’s innings on Sunday included a total of eight boundaries — seven 4s and one 6  He played with a strike rate of 175.

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Dinesh Karthik went on to smash 17 runs off 7 deliveries, adding one four and two sixes to India’s tally. The South African team was given a target of 238, the highest ever in a T20 international. Suryakumar Yadav was India’s top scorer, adding 61 runs in 22 deliveries. He had the highest strike rate in the first innings — 277.77.

Kohli also crossed a crucial milestone on Sunday, becoming the first-ever Indian to make 11,000 T20 runs in his career. Media reports say Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are close behind. Only three other players have crossed the 11,000 run mark. These include Kieron Pollard, Chris Gayle and Shoaib Malik.

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A sellout crowd witnessed raining boundaries at the small ACA Barsapara Stadium as the Indian batters smashed 25 fours and 13 sixes. They scored 178 runs in boundaries.

Rohit Sharma (43 off 37 balls) and KL Rahul (57 off 28 balls) started it before Suryakumar Yadav (61 off 22 balls), Virat Kohli (49 not out) and Dinesh Karthik (17 not out) finished it off in style.