India got into a
strong position on the first day of the 1st Boxing Day Test against
South Africa at the SuperSport Park in Centurion today, India at 272/3 at
stumps off the full 90 overs. This is thanks to a technically sound unbeaten century
crafted by opener and the stand-in vice-captain KL Rahul (122 not out in 248
balls) who first built up a 117-run opening partnership with Mayank Agarwal
(60), then an 82-run one with captain Virat Kohli (35) and an unbeaten 4th
wicket partnership of 73 runs with Ajinkya Rahane (40 not out), batting out the
full day on a pacy and bouncy pitch most suited for fast bowlers. Other than
the luckless Cheteshwar Pujara who is literally playing for his place with players
like Shreyas Iyer and Hanuma Vihari in reserve and who is without a ton in his
last 43 innings got out for a first-ball duck, all batsmen so far have
contributed well. For South Africa all the three wickets were captured by Lungi
Ngidi. The host team must be sorely missing the services of their strike fast
bowler Anrich Nortje who was out due to injury with all-rounder Marco Jansen making
his debut in his place. The lone spinner Keshav Maharaj too is wicketless so
far.
The selection of the India playing eleven has been judicious, mixing experience with promising youngsters which is why Pujara and Rahane have been retained while having a foursome pace-battery preferring Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj to Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah coming back to the team. Ravichandran Ashwin is the lone spinner and his selection is also justified. Mayank Agarwal is spiritedly trying to make the best of his chances thanks to the regular Test vice-captain and opener Rohit Sharma being ruled out of the Test Series and earlier rested for home Test series against New Zealand. KL Rahul proves yet again that he is specially made for test cricket in whatever batting position he is required. Interestingly, this is the first away Test Series for head coach of Team India, Rahul Dravid, once considered the great wall of Indian cricket.
Earlier, captain
Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat first. He looked to be in good nick
despite the recent split-captaincy controversy. In this same venue Virat scored
the highest ever individual score of 153 by a visiting cricketer in his only
away test series against South Africa during 2017-18, and India actually lost
that test match losing the 3-match series 2-1. In fact, the lone victory registered
by his team in that visit is only the third by any India team. India is yet to
win a test series against South Africa in South Africa. India looks to be in a
sound position at the moment to force a win, if they go past 400 runs tomorrow
with Rishabh Pant, Ashwin and even Thakur to follow. Winning the toss and the
batsmen applying themselves well could definitely lead to conquering literally
the last frontier. The pacy pitch of SuperSport Park is surely going to get
worse with uneven bounce from the 3rd or 4th day onward. However,
the South Africa pace-battery is yet to deliver true to their potential. We are
in for some absorbing cricket ahead.
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