NEW DELHI: India’s 2-1 ODI series win over South Africa on Saturday ended with fireworks on the field — and laughter inside the dressing room — thanks to Virat Kohli’s cheeky dig at Kuldeep Yadav. While the hosts dominated the series decider in Visakhapatnam, it was a moment of light-hearted banter after the match that stole social media’s attention.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Kuldeep, who bagged nine wickets and finished as the highest wicket-taker of the series, was named Impact Player of the Series. When India bowling coach Ryan ten Doeschate invited him to speak after presenting the medal, the left-arm spinner struggled to find words. Teammates erupted into playful teasing — and Kohli led the fun with a hilarious taunt: “Ro de, ro de!” (Cry, cry!)
The entire room burst into laughter as Kuldeep shyly managed a short speech: “Nothing much to say from my side… Congratulations to Virat bhai and Jaisu. He played an unbelievable innings… Yeah, let’s enjoy this.”Click to watch the dressing room videoKohli, who was named Player of the Series with 302 runs including back-to-back centuries and an unbeaten 65 in the final ODI, grinned as the shy spinner expressed his appreciation. Earlier, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal scored his maiden ODI hundred, partnering with Rohit Sharma (75) and Kohli’s composed 65 to script a nine-wicket victory.India had first restricted South Africa to 270, with both Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep picking four wickets each. Prasidh bounced back after a shaky start to dismantle South Africa’s middle order, while Kuldeep delivered yet another magical spell. For the Proteas, only Quinton de Kock resisted with a superb 106.Doeschate summed up Kuldeep’s impact perfectly: “In a series where batters dominated, the impact player is Kuldeep Yadav.”Team India now shifts focus to the five-match T20I series starting December 9 at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack.
