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In the overcast conditions on a bouncy track of the SuperSport Park, Centurion, Kagiso Rabada made Indian batters dance to his tunes on Day 1 with a five-wicket haul. But KL Rahul turned out to be immune to South Africa’s pace battery’s charges long enough to score a century and take the visitors’ score to 245. Legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was left impressed with Rahul's gutsy knock as he took India to a decent total but at the same time criticised South Africa for letting the game slip away.
“Well played @klrahul. What impressed me was his clarity of thought. His footwork looked precise and assured, and that happens when a batter is thinking right. This century is crucial in the context of this Test. India would be happy with 245 considering where they were at one stage yesterday,” Tendulkar wrote in a tweet on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He was impressed by South Africa’s left-arm pacer Nandre Burger who took three wickets including opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Rahul to wrap up the innings. Also, Mumbai Indians’ (MI) new recruit Gerald Coetzee caught his eye despite going for 74 runs and managing just the wicket of tailender Mohammed Siraj.
“Nandre Burger and @GeraldCoetzee62 look like a good addition to the South African bowling line-up. I feel South Africa won't be too happy with their bowling performance considering the conditions,” he added.
Rahul became the second wicketkeeper-batter to score a Test century on South Africa soil after Rishabh Pant. He also became the first visiting batter to score more than one Test century in Centurion.
Earlier, Rabada who completed 500 wickets in international cricket lauded Rahul for remaining unbeaten for 70 on Day 1 while wickets fell at the other end.
“His (stroke-making) options were good, he defended well, always someone stands out and he was that batter today,” he said.
Rahul batted at no.6 in Test cricket after 2014. The last time he scored a century in Centurion was in the Boxing Day Test as well. However, he opened the innings in Rohit Sharma’s absence.
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