"Virat Kohli left behind his ego in the kit bag" - Gautam Gambhir lauds Indian skipper's knock in the 3rd Test vs South Africa

Virat Kohli played a dogged innings on Day 1 of the Cape Town Test

Gautam Gambhir has lauded Virat Kohli for putting aside his ego and playing a patient knock in India's first innings of the third and final Test against South Africa.

Virat top-scored for Team India with a 79-run knock on Day 1 of the series-deciding encounter. He played out 201 deliveries in the process and exercised great caution throughout his innings.

While reviewing the first day's play on Star Sports, Gautam Gambhir was effusive in his praise for Virat. He said:

"Virat has said many times that when you go to England, you should leave behind your ego in India. Today, Virat Kohli left behind his ego in the kit bag and this knock reminds me of his very succesful tour of England, where he got beaten many times but left a lot of deliveries outside off-stump."

The former India cricketer highlighted that Virat was willing to bide his time and did not try to assert his dominance on the bowlers. Gambhir elaborated:

"Today, in the same way, he left deliveries outside off-stump, he got beaten as well but kept his ego with himself. He did not try to dominate the bowlers on every delivery."

Virat Kohli 50. Love watching this man play Test cricket 🔥 and this is an important and gritty knock - toughing it out in the middle after early wickets. #SAvIND

Virat was surprisingly the more reserved of the two batters in his 62-run third-wicket partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara. The Indian captain only pushed the accelerator pedal slightly when the wickets started to fall at regular intervals at the other end.

"You play in your shell at times" - Gautam Gambhir on Virat Kohli respecting the conditions

Virat Kohli struck 12 boundaries and a six during his knock

Gautam Gambhir highlighted that batters tend to play sedately when confronted with quality bowling in tough conditions. He observed:

"When you play in these conditions and against such bowlers on the first day, where there is help for the bowlers, you play in your shell at times although the South African bowlers did give him that opportunity."

The cricketer-turned-politician concluded by saying that Virat's run-scoring pattern reminded him of his knocks on the 2018 tour of England. Gambhir explained:

"Along with that, his scoring areas might have been through the covers but he scored a lot of runs on his legs, which he has always done. So we saw a glimpse of the knocks he played in England."

Just love watching Kohli bat. Test cricket is lucky to have him #SAvIND

Despite Virat's fighting knock, Team India were bowled out for 223 runs in their first innings. The onus will now be on their bowlers to dismiss the Proteas cheaply and bring the visitors back into the game.