His innings of 119 obviously had a lot to do with the headline. However, former South African pace great and current bowling coach, Allan Donald, too played his part. "He reminds me of Sachin Tendulkar of 1996," Donald had observed about Kohli at the end of the first day's play.
But there were some mind-games played between Kohli and Donald before the legend endorsed Kohli's performance. The Indian batsman's presser on Wednesday night had stretched beyond schedule and Donald, the South African bowling coach, had already arrived in the room to address the media.
The Indian media manager announced "last question" as a scribe asked the new No. 4 about playing the pull shot convincingly. The feisty Delhi lad knew that this was his chance to get back and counter the barbs that were directed at him from Day 1 of the tour.
"Apparently, I was pretty soft after the first ODI," he said, in response to Dale Steyn's observations which he made after the first ODI. "But let me tell you, I always knew I would get some short stuff.
So I decided that it's better to attack them rather than get out fishing outside the off-stump. I was getting into position whenever they put that extra effort and later they started bowling at the fifth or sixth stump. I don't know where their bodyline bowling vanished once I started attacking," he quipped, glancing at Donald.
Donald has been a competitor all his life and he didn't mind the banter from the new-age Indian kid. There was a hint of a smile on Donald's lips as Kohli carried on with his "we have learnt from our mistakes, practised hard and stuck to our plan" routine.
No pleasantries were exchanged between Donald and Kohli as the Indian left the room and soon it was the South African's turn to face the heat from the media. It didn't take too long for the "So your pacers were wrong about scaring off Kohli" question to fly in.
Donald simply smiled. "I was the first one to say in 1996 that not too many people in the Indian team showed the guts to fight...But one person who always jumped out and played according to the situation and his team was Tendulkar. That's what came to my mind when I saw Kohli batting today- the way he left the ball and when we were slightly off line, he punished the ball."
He brought in the Tendulkar comparison again, saying that Kohli showed the responsibility that the Little Master used to. "He paced his innings beautifully, the way Sachin did," the White Lightning added.
Quite a compliment, it's up to the new Indian champion to keep it going.
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