Virat Kohli's rampaging run in the South Africa series cemented his place as one of the best players of the modern era, not just in one-day cricket but across all formats.
India's tour of South Africa was going to be Kohli's biggest challenge till now as captain and as a batsman and he passed both those tests with flying colours.
Kohli amassed 871 runs on the tour and finished as the highest run-getter in the Test and ODI series with 286 and 558 runs respectively.
His outstanding form with the bat helped India beat South Africa in the third Test at Johannesburg and then clinch the six-match ODI series 5-1 and the T20I series 2-1.
India head coach Ravi Shastri attributes the captain's phenomenal success to his mental toughness as a cricketer.
"Virat Kohli leads from the front. He is a tough guy in the mind and that makes a huge difference because it spreads amongst his teammates as well. And we knew even after losing 2 Tests that we weren't far behind. People might say anything, they might write anything but we give two hoots," Shastri told India Today.
"The captain not for one minute didn't believe India wouldn't win (the Johannesburg Test). That was the difference. Even at 120 for 1 he believed that India could win. Even when they came in at tea time he was very clear that "we are winning this Test match". They (South Africa) were three down at that time.
"When you have that kind of self-belief, as I said it's like a disease which spreads among the other players," he added.
The former India all-rounder also felt that Kohli learnt a lot as captain on this tour.
"As captain he would have learnt heck of a lot because this was a tough tour, make no mistake about it. I've been going to South Africa since 1992, you tell me one South African team which is not a strong team? And when you look at their attack now, it's as good as any in the world specially in those conditions."
Kohli was the only batsman from either side to score a hundred in the Test series and he followed that up with three tons in the ODIs where he averaged a mind boggling 186 from six games.
Shastri feels the hundred he scored in the second Test at Centurion was the turning point for Kohli on the tour.
"Once he got that 150 in Centurion there was no looking back. Even the two innings that he played next he might have just got 40-50 but it was top class. By the time the one-day series was over he showed why he's the best batsman in the world. There is no question that he is the best batsman.
"Across all formats to have that kind of consistency, to have that ability to finish a game. To first know that there is a chance here and then to go out and dominate and then to have that level of consistency. Close to 870 runs on a tour of South Africa is unreal," the 55-year-old said.
Kohli has 56 international hundreds already and is the fastest batsman to amass 17,000 international runs. He is second on the list of most hundreds scored by batsmen in the 50-over format with 35 centuries behind only the great Sachin Tendulkar (49).
Therefore, it is but natural that comparisons do take place between the Master Blaster and the India's run-machine.
"Just the fact that Virat Kohli has been brought on the same page as Sachin Tendulkar, I don't have to say anything more.
"He's unbelievable and he challenges himself. He says, 'I'm up against the best attack in the world, the conditions are suiting the opposition, if I'm worth my salt let me get runs here'. And he goes out and does it. And the manner in which he gets runs is something that sets him apart. He dominates. He's a dominating player and you don't see too many," Shastri concluded.
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