Centurion 26 December : .A magnificent century from KL Rahul and a half-century by Mayank Agarwal combined with his fifth Test hundred in Asia helped India win the Boxing Day Test here at SuperSport Park on Sunday. India is 272/3 at stumps in 90 overs.Rahul (batting 122) & Ajinkya Rahane (44) are the two batsmen on an Indian day which was completely for tourists.
Lungi Nyadi, the host’s only wicket taker, took 3/45 runs in 17 overs.Rahul formed partnerships with Agarwal to create India’s 100th opening stand in 2010.
He then put 82 runs and 73 runs together with Virat Kohli, Rahane and Rahane.
India chose to bat on a semi-lively wicket and made good use of a South Africa attacking team that was lackingluster at the beginning but became more consistent as the day went along.
Rahul was the winner of the day, as he was determined in his opening role.He left the balls outside the off stump, was not tripped by short-ball examination and cranked the drives.It was an exceptional day for him.
South Africa used four pace options within the first hour: Wiaan Mulder (Kagiso Rabada), Lungi Nagidi (Wiaan Mulder), Marco Jansen (debutant).Agarwal and Rahul were not able to stop them.Rahul kept his leaves very compact, while Agarwal drove off Ngidi to establish India’s first border.
Rahul scored his first boundary five overs later with an unassisted drive off Rabada that got him past the mid-off.Jansen was in first-change and got three boundaries when Agarwal drove Rahul through the offside, while also flicking him twice through the mid-wicket.
Agarwal continued his attack on Jansen, smashing successive boundaries from both ends of the wicket.South Africa’s breakthrough came to an abrupt halt when Quinton de Kock dropped Agarwal on 36.
Both the Karnataka and South African duos complemented one another by capitalising upon South Africa’s mistakes with length and line.Agarwal reached his half-century mark with a smooth drive through the long-off Jansen.
Rahul would further assault Jansen, cutting him through the mid-wicket with a sharp edge and ripping through slip cordon.This was the 100th opening wicket for India in South Africa.
Rahul picked up speed as he drove Mulder through sweeper-cover twice, while Agarwal caught Ngidi’s short ball through fine leg.Ngidi caught Agarwal with the second ball.It was a short delivery from the back that hit the pads and went past the edge.South Africa won the review.
The ball tracking showed that it had hit the upper leg stump, ending India’s first stand of 117.
Ngidi got two as one when he bowled an in-swinger that Cheteshwar Pujara inner edged to his leg and the ball was lobbed at Keegan Petersen, who ran in from behind short leg.This was the second golden duck Pujara had won in Test cricket.Both came to Centurion, and both had Ngidi (in 2018 he was involved in the Pujara run-out).
Rahul celebrated his 50th birthday with a well-timed cover drive by Ngidi.Kohli was not far off the mark, leaning in Jansen’s cover drive and following it with a clip through the middle of the on from left-arm spinner Keshav Mahraj.
The scoreboard remained ticking until tea with Kohli and Rahul.
The final session was started by Kohli with a quick flick through Maharaj’s square-leg.
Rabada was a little troubled by Kohli, but he came forward to unfurl his cover drive.Rabada also troubled Rahul, but he managed to give him a lift through additional cover.
Rahul went on to smash Maharaj to score a four-wicket through the mid-wicket.He then danced down the pitch for an over six long-on.
Ngidi bowled 7 consecutive dot balls to Kohli.On the 8th ball Kohli chased an off-stump delivery and caught Mulder.
Rahane hit the mark with his second ball.He smashed a Ngidi halfvolley through the cover.He started to play with boundaries.Rahane began by slicing Ngidi off-side and flicking Jansen through the mid-wicket.
Rahul scored his seventh Test century when he guided Maharaj through the backward point, despite Keegan Petersen’s desperate dive.After Wasim Jaffer’s Cape Town 116 in 2007, Rahul became the second Indian opener with a Test century.
Rahul cut Jansen’s slip cordon after reaching 100.
Rahane on the other side leaned in to a drive from Jansen, and hit a pull along the ground on Rabada’s bouncer through his backward square leg.Rahul grabbed another boundary from Maharaj and hit a hard punch through point.He stayed around for India to be in an unbeatable position at stumps.
Brief scores: India 272/3 in 90 overs (KL Rahul 122 not out, Mayank Agarwal 60, Lungi Ngidi 3/45) against South Africa
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