- Tuesday, May 21, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA were off to a good start in the first Test match against South Africa at SuperSport Park, Centurion, on Boxing Day (26) with their openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal putting up a half-century stand.
Earlier in the day, India skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat. India have never won a Test series in South Africa and according to analysts, they could have their best opportunity this time.
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The home team players wore black armbands to honour anti-apartheid icon Desmond Tutu who passed away the same day at the age of 90.
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Players from both teams also held a minute’s silence remembering Tutu.
Winning the toss, Kohli, who recently made the headlines in India for controversial reasons, said past history on the ground persuaded him to bat first at the venue.
“The wicket looks nice,” he said, adding, “There is a lot of grass on it but historically it tends to get faster from day two onwards.”
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Kohli, who said he traced India’s recent success in away series to their victory in the third Test in Johannesburg four seasons ago after they had lost the first two games.
“That gave us a lot of confidence,” the ace batter, who is now two matches short of 100 Tests, said.
The India captain, however, admitted that South Africa is “a very challenging place” to play the game.
“This is a very challenging place to play cricket in. We have to be at our absolute best,” he said.
The home team gave a surprise by picking tall left-arm fast bowler Marco Jansen, 21, who made his debut.
“He’s had a lot of success against the India A side, he hit quite a few of their batters,” Dean Elgar, the South Africa captain, said. Jansen joined the company of two experienced pacers in Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi while Duanne Olivier was left out.
The Indian side chose a four-pacer attack including Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur while Ravichandran Ashwin was the only spinner.
Teams:
South Africa: Dean Elgar (captain), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wicket-keeper), Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Risabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
