Indian openers Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul gave India a solid start after skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first in the Boxing Day Test at SuperSport Park, Centurion. The talented opening duo batted with a lot of grit and determination to put India on top in the first session. Mayank is marching towards his sublime half-century as he has hit 7 boundaries so far in his counter-attacking knock. He released pressure from his opening partner who looked cautious in the initial phase of play.
At lunch, India were 83/0 with Mayank (46) and Rahul (29) in the middle. None of the South Africa bowlers caused any serious trouble against the opening duo as debutant Marco Jansen only created a genuine chance to break the stand but Quinton de Kock dropped Mayank behind the stump, who was at 36 during that time.
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Earlier, it took Rahul 21 deliveries to open his account as he played Kagiso Rabada’s first three overs with a cautious approach under overcast conditions. While Mayank played his strokes whenever he got the chance to keep the scoreboard moving. The two good friends chatted a lot during the change of overs to assist each other.
South African pace attack led by Rabada failed to capitalize the overcast conditions with the new ball and they would look to get their mojo back in the second session to get back into this game.
The Indian openers executed the plan quite well in the first session as Rahul stood his ground strong with his tight defence which allowed Mayank to play his shots freely.
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Earlier, Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first in the opening Test of three-match series. The visitors made some interesting picks in their XI by picking senior Ajinkya Rahane over Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer. While Kohli also decided to play with five bowlers by including both Shardul Thakur and Ravichandran Ashwin in the XI.
After winning the toss, Kohli said, “Runs on the board playing away from home has been our strength. The wicket looks nice, there’s grass on the pitch. Traditionally, Centurion gets quicker as the match goes on.
“We wanted to bat first. Our success away from home started with South Africa series. We won the last Test of the series last time we toured here. We won twice in Australia and once in England. South Africa will be a tough place. We need to be strong with our plans and execution. Lucky to have practiced close to the centre wicket.”
While South Africa chose Marco Jansen over Duanne Olivier looking at Indian batters’ vulnerability against the left-arm seamers in the past.
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