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Vice captain KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal gave India a decent start during the Boxing Day Test against Proteas in Centurion on Sunday (December 26). On the opening day of the first Test of the three-match series, India won the toss and elected to bat with Rahul and in-form Mayank managing to keep the South African bowlers at bay by blunting the new ball with some fine batting at display. Their robust performance on Day 1 saw them achieve some feat that had been rarely accomplished in South Africa in the entirety of Test cricket.
KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal gave India a decent start during the Boxing Day Test against Proteas in Centurion. Facing overcast conditions on a green track, Rahul and Mayank steered India steadily and then cashing on the first change bowlers to plunder runs in the first session. The Indian openers went unscathed in the first session, scoring 83 in 28 overs.
Mayank Agarwal then reached his half-century and India went past the hundred run mark in the second session and the duo became the third Indian opening pair to score a 100 partnership. Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer were the first pair to score a 100 run partnership in 2006, with Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir putting on 137 in 2010.
It was also the second 100 opening partnership by an Indian opening pair at Centurion in Tests.
Earlier, the 50-plus opening stand between Rahul & Mayank is only the fifth opening stand for India in South Africa in Tests.
When Rahul and Mayank stitched a 50-run opening stand in Centurion, they became only the second opening pair ever to do so when South Africa have bowled first in the first match of a home series.
The only time it had happened before was in 2007 when Chris Gayle and Darren Ganga strung together a 98-run partnership for the opening wicket.
South Africa have an enviable record at home and the SuperSport Park in Centurion is sort of a fortress for them. India have never won a Test series in South Africa, but their bid to end that jinx has started well.
En route to the feat, Mayank scored his sixth half-century score, becoming the 12th Indian opener to score a fifty in a Test match in South Africa and first in eight years, since Murali Vijay's 97 in Durban in the 2013/14 tour.
Mayank now has half-century scores in all the five countries he has batted in Test cricket - two fifties in Australia, four tons and one fifty in India, one fifty in New Zealand, one fifty in West Indies and now one fifty in South Africa.
Mayank wasn't India's first-choice opener for the Test series in South Africa despite his impressive show in the second Test against New Zealand at home. But Rohit Sharma's injury offered him the position for the Centurion opener.
However, till tea break the Men in Blue were 157 for the loss of two wickets with Virat Kohli (19) and Rahul (68) remained intact on crease. Earlier, Mayank, after a good show with the willow, was sent to pavilion by Lungi Ngidi and Cheteshwar Pujara was dismissed for a golden duck by the same bowler.
