Finance
As rain and poor visibility ended the first day of the first Test at SuperSport Park on Tuesday, Kagiso Rabada secured his first five-wicket haul against India, while KL Rahul scored a valiant half-century as the visitors limped to 208/8 against South Africa.
Using a ground that bounced differently, Rabada bowled with great pace and control, taking 5-44 in an entertaining afternoon session that saw the hosts capture four wickets and the visitors add 85 runs.
Rabada, 28, has now claimed 14 five-wicket hauls in 61 Tests, including his first against India. The South African icon Shaun Pollock had claimed 14 wickets in 60 Tests.
After that, KL Rahul took control, using his shots well to reach his half-century in 80 balls while hitting two sixes and seven boundaries. He assisted India in achieving the psychological milestone of 200 with a few wickets remaining.
After a little drizzle, Rahul was batting on 70 off 105 deliveries when stumps were called. He had smashed two sixes and ten boundaries, keeping the visitors’ hopes alive for a few more runs on the second morning. Rahul had company from Mohammed Siraj, but he had not yet opened his account with 10 balls.
Upon winning the toss and choosing to bowl first in the first of the two Test matches that India played, Temba Bavuma awarded Prasidh Krishna his debut while the hosts gave first caps to Nandre Burger and David Bedingham, Rabada struck the first blow for South Africa.
Rain caused the match to start later than expected, therefore captain Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal started the Indian inning batting first. Yashasvi blasted a boundary off his pads to get off to a quick start.
Rabada bowled with noticeable seam movement, as did Marco Jansen. In the third over, there was a shout for leg before wicket against Rohit because the ball was acting like an off-break, pitching full outside off and jagging so far past the bat that it would have ultimately missing the stumps.
India lost their skipper in the fifth over to a short ball that he dragged to long leg, one of the only two guys on the boundary, as Rabada, with his precise line and length, tested Rohit with a sharp bouncer. Rohit scored 5 off 14 deliveries.
Of the first sixty balls, the Indian batters left thirty-three out of the total. This is mainly because, even if they were bowled at the stumps, 48 of them were on the shorter side and would not hit the stumps. However, Nandre Burger, making his debut, had other ideas and pitched one up to get Jaiswal’s crucial wicket. Jaiswal left after scoring 17 off 37 deliveries, narrowly missing out on keeper Kyle Verreynne.
In the first ten overs, the 10th ball that SA pitched up resulted in the wicket of Jaiswal. Burger was fortunate to dismiss Shubman Gill on the leg side, as he only gloved the ball into wicketkeeper Verreynne’s hands.
After being dropped on each side of the drinks break, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer lived life to the fullest. Jansen released Iyer at point, and de Zorzi released Kohli at square leg. While Kohli has been far more conventional in his stroke-making, Iyer had looked to swing freely.
India recovered magnificently from 26 for 3 in the first hour thanks to an uninterrupted half-century partnership between Iyer and Kohli, their 67-run partnership for for the fourth wicket making it India’s starting at 91/3 after lunch, India lost their way again as Shreyas Iyer fell in the first over after restart.
Iyer’s 50-ball vigil was ended for 31 runs by Rabada with a powerful inswinger that landed on a patch and stayed low, taking the inside edge to crash into the stumps.
With yet another outstanding delivery, the 28-year-old right-handed bowler dismissed Kohli, compelling the former captain of India to sneak one behind the keeper. India fell to 107/5 after Rabada got Kohli to play at a well-pitched delivery that jagged and took the outside edge to Verreynne.
After Ravichandran Ashwin lasted just eight runs on balls, Rahul and Shardul Thakur joined forces for another fleeting moment of respite.
With a determined 24 from 33 balls, including three fours, Shardul Thakur demonstrated his tenacity by adding 43 runs for the seventh wicket. Rabada’s fifth victim of the day was Shardul, who heroically took a couple of punches before his drive off a length ball outside off went straight to Dean Elgar.
Rabada reached 500 wickets in international cricket with this, 285 of which came from 61 Test matches.
Rahul grabbed control as he sped to his half-century with the tail to bat. He hit back-to-back boundaries with Gerald Coetzee, reversing course to pull off a short one just outside off with a rasping pull. For the first boundary, he got on top of the head-high ball after he had pumped one over extra-cover for four off the third delivery off 58th over.
Following his hammering of Burger for four and six off consecutive deliveries, he reached his half-century by smashing the fast ball pitched outside off over the boundary and then flicking the fifth ball of the 52nd over through midwicket.
Earlier, he square-drove Rabada for a boundary after lofting Burger for an incredible boundary from a length ball outside off-stumps.
Another blow to South Africa came when captain Bavuma had to leave the field due to an injury. In his absence, Dean Elgar captained the team for his final Test match.
Brief scores (At Stumps, Day 1):
India 208/8 in 59 overs (KL Rahul batting 70, Virat Kohli 38, Shreyas Iyer 31; Kagiso Rabada 5-44, Nandre Burger 2-50) against South Africa.
Source:IANS
