Indian opener KL Rahul had a strong opening for Day 1 for India in Centurion as the South African team ended at 272/3 in 90 overs. KL Rahul scored 122 runs, not out while Ajinkya Rahane had an impressive score of 40. Mayank Agarwal scored 60 runs and the openers added 117 runs for the very first wicket. Pujara disappointed the fans by not opening his account and getting out. Indian skipper Virat Kohli scored 35 runs after which he lost his wicket. From South Africa, Lungi Ngidi dismissed all the three players and India had won the toss and chose to bat.
Rahul is only the second Indian opener to score a hundred in South Africa after Wasim Jaffer in 2006/07 and he now also holds the record of the highest score by an Indian opener in South Africa.
The 117-run opening partnership between Rahul and Mayank is only the third 100-plus stand by an Indian pair for the first wicket in South Africa. For South Africa, pacer Lungi Ngidi is the only successful bowler till now, as he has broken the Indian batting backbone with his three top-order wickets. Ngidi took the wickets of Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara (0) on consecutive balls later removed Virat Kohli on a brilliant outswinger.
On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer and Hanuma Vihari didn’t find a place in the Indian cricket squad.
Indian squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj.
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