India managed to post 208/8 on the scoreboard with the help of KL Rahul’s fifty during the Day 1 of 1st IND vs SA Test.
New Delhi: KL Rahul hit a crucial half-century and helped India recover from the wrath of Kagiso Rabada, who picked up his first-ever five-wicket haul against India as the visiting side somehow managed to post 208/8 against South Africa after rain and bad light called off the opening day of the first Test at SuperSport Park on December 26.
Kagiso Rabada’s astonishing spell was demonstrating good pace and control. He was able to take complete advantage of a pitch which was offering variable bounce. His 5-44 on Day 1 helped the hosts to dominate the Indian cricket team. He picked up the wickets of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur. He also became the 7th Proteas bowler to take 500 International wickets with this remarkable spell.
This is Rabada’s 14th five-wicket haul in 61 Tests and the first against India as the 28-year-old kept pace with South African legend Shaun Pollock, who got his 14 in 60 Tests.
KL Rahul took over after that as he played his shots to good advantage as he completed his half-century off 80 balls, hitting seven boundaries and two sixes. He helped India cross the psychological mark of 200 with a couple of wickets in hand.
When stumps were called with the light fading fast following a slight drizzle, Rahul was batting on 70 off 105 deliveries, hitting 10 boundaries and two sixes, keeping the visitors’ hopes alive for adding a few more runs on the second morning. Mohammed Siraj was keeping Rahul company, yet to open his account off 10 balls/
After Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to bowl first in the first of the two Tests in which India gave Prasidh Krishna his debut while the hosts gave first caps to Nandre Burger and David Bedingham, Rabada struck the first blow for South Africa.
Batting first after rain delayed the start of the match, skipper Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal opened the Indian inning. Yashasvi went off to a flying start with a boundary with a flick off his pads.
Both Rabada and Marco Jansen bowled with appreciable seam movement. There was an LBW shout against Rohit in the third over where the ball behaved like an off-break, pitching full outside off and jagging so far past the bat that it would have missed the stumps in the end.
From 26 for 3 in the first hour, India bounced back splendidly courtesy of an unbroken half-century stand between Iyer and Kohli, their 67-run partnership 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.
Rabada made the breakthrough with a full inswinger that landed on a patch and kept low, took the inside edge to crash into the stumps, ending Iyer’s 50-ball vigil for 31 runs.
The 28-year-old right-handed pacer also got Kohli with another superb delivery, forcing the former India captain to nick one behind to the keeper. Rabada had Kohli playing at a well-pitched delivery angling in at off which jagged and took the outside edge to Verreynne as India slumped to 107/5.
Ravichandran Ashwin lasted only balls for eight runs before Rahul and Shardul Thakur came together for another short-lived rescue act.
Shardul Thakur showed grit with a spirited 24 off 33 balls, hitting three fours, and added 43 runs for the seventh wicket. Shardul, who took a couple of blows bravely, became Rabada’s fifth victim of the day when his drive on the up off a length ball outside off went straight to Dean Elgar.
With this Rabada completed his 500 wickets in international cricket, 285 of them coming in 61 Test matches.
With the tail to bat with, Rahul took charge as he raced to his half-century. He struck Gerald Coetzee for back-to-back boundaries, swiveling on the back foot to hit a rasping pull off a short one just outside off, getting on top of the head-high delivery for the first one after he had pumped one over extra-cover for four off the third delivery off 58th over.
That came after he had hammered Burger for a four and six off successive deliveries, whipping the fifth ball of the 52nd over through the midwicket and then followed that up with blasting the fast one pitched outside off over the boundary to bring up his half-century.
Earlier, he lofted Burger for a sensational boundary off a length ball outside off-stumps and then square-drove Rabada for a boundary.
South Africa also suffered a setback when skipper Bavuma had to walk off the field with an injury. Dean Elgar, in his last series as Test player, captained the side in his absence.