Indian opener KL Rahul has put India on the front foot with his maiden Test century on South Africa soil. With his seventh Test century, Rahul has become India’s first opener to score a century in Test cricket on South African soil after 14 years. Former Indian cricketer, Wasim Jaffer is the only Indian opener to have scored a century in South Africa.
Rahul also scored his sixth overseas century and fifth outside Asia. So far, Rahul has scored Test centuries in Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.
The Karnataka batter got India off to a great start alongside Mayank Agarwal sharing a 117-run partnership for the first wicket in Centurion. Returning from an injury that made him miss out on home Test series against New Zealand, the swashbuckling batter shared the third-highest opening partnership in South Africa for India. It is also the first century opening stand for India in South Africa after 11 years.
The last time Rahul played in Centurion, he scored 10 runs. Agarwal got out after scoring 60 runs off 123 deliveries followed by Cheteshwar Pujara’s golden duck. Rahul helped India recover from Lungi Ngidi’s double blow with 82-run partnership for the third wicket.
He remained unbeaten for 122 at the end of Day 1’s play. It is also the highest score by an Indian opener in Test cricket surpassing Jaffer’s 116. His unbeaten knock included 16 fours and one six. He faced a total of 248 deliveries during the day’s play. His patient knock helped India post 272/3 on Day 1.
