Superstar Virat Kohli

The skipper's gesture was to acknowledge Rohit's contributio n and his conviction to prove his critics wrong. Rohit played a stylish innings of 176 runs off 244 balls. He smashed 23 fours and 6 Sixes with a strike rate of 72.13.

Kohli meets special fan who tattooed his face on his chest

While Rohit is counted among the modern-day ODI greats, he has not done justice to his potential in Tests, averaging 39.62 in 27 matches.

In their home conditions, India, the number 1 ranked side in the world, will start as overwhelming favourites, but South Africa too have the players to give the hosts a run for their money.

“Virat is a lot like dada (Ganguly), he is expressive, bold in his decisions and always pumps the team up through crunch situations. His sublime batting form is always reflective of the way he leads the team on field. I wish to see him lift the World Cup for India one day.”

India’s performance in the T20Is has been far from impressive this year and despite the many changes made to the squad, the results have not been very consistent.

Over the years, the World Cup has seen the greatest players that have ever lived go toe to toe, which begs the question: who would make it into a current era's World ODI XI?