India’s wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul scored a century in Centurion in the Boxing Day Test. Two years later, Rahul is on his way to repeat history amidst rain interruptions and mayhem-filled bowling from South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada. In gloomy conditions on a surface that generated enough bounce to push everyone on the back foot, Rahul stood out as wickets fell on the other end to take India’s score to 208/8 before bad light and rain stopped play.
Earlier, Temba Bavuma won the toss and opted to field first after a delay due to wet patches at the SuperSport Park. Both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma hit a boundary each off Rabada. But the speedster made Rohit fall into his trap. The Indian captain went for the pull shot and found the fine leg fielder Nandre Burger. On-debut Burger then drew Jaiswal forward and managed to produce an outside edge off his bat as the ball seamed away from the left-handed batter. In his next over, Burger got the wicket of Shubman Gill. India were 24/3 in the 12th over.
South Africa had chances to make it worse for the visitors but two dropped catches gave Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer a chance to fight back. Meanwhile, Bavuma had to limp off the ground as he injured his left hamstring while trying to stop a boundary. Kohli and Iyer showed a mix of caution and aggression. After the first session, India were 91/3.
In the first over after the lunch break, Rabada used wobble-seam and the lack of bounce left Iyer defenseless. He got bowled after scoring 31 runs from 50 balls. A few overs later, Rabada bowled a brilliant outswinger which did just enough to graze the bat and land in wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne's gloves. Kohli departed after scoring 38 runs from 64 balls and India lost half the side for 107.
Ravichandran Ashwin hit a couple of boundaries but Rabada got the better of him with extra bounce as he got caught by the third slip fielder. India were in desperate need of a partnership. While Rahul looked more comfortable than anyone, Shardul Thakur launched a counterattack. He was hit on the helmet and one of the deliveries hit him on the arm as well. Thakur's counterattack came to an end as Rabada got his wicket to complete his fifer. He scored 24 runs from 33 balls.
After the second session, Rahul took on Burger and hit him for a six over covers to complete his half-century. Jasprit Bumrah struggled against the pacers and barely managed to get off the mark. He became Marco Jansen's only victim of the day. Rahul looked for more boundaries as dark clouds hovered over the stadium. Bad light and rain stopped play while Mohammed Siraj was yet to get off the mark. On the other end, Rahul remained unbeaten for 70 off 105 balls featuring 10 fours and a couple of sixes.
On Day 2, Rahul will be looking to get India’s score past 250 and in the process become the second Indian wicketkeeper-batter to score a Test century on South African soil after Rishabh Pant.
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