SA vs Ind, 2nd Test: Pacers put hosts in a strong position (Tea, Day-1)
Jan 03, 2022
Johannesburg [South Africa], January 3 : South African pacers tighten screws against the visitors to leave them tottering at 146 for 5 till Tea here at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
Resuming the post-lunch session at 53 for 3 captain KL Rahul and Hanuma Vihari started cautiously to build the innings but Kagiso Rabada had other plans as he dismissed Vihari for 20 caught off the short leg to a brilliant catch by Rassie van der Dussen. India lost their fourth wicket with only 91 runs on the board.
Rahul kept on scoring despite losing partners at the other end to take the team's total beyond the triple-figure mark and soon also notched up his half-century. But India's foes were far from getting over as Rahul played a shot straight to the fielder in deep fine where Rabada took a catch off Marco Jansen's bowling. Jansen took his second wicket of the match as half of India's side was back in the pavilion with a score of 116.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Rishabh Pant ensured India did not lose another wicket as they scored 146 for 5 till Tea with Ashwin and Pant batting on 24 and 13 respectively.
Earlier in the day, the second Test match started with the biggest surprise when KL Rahul walked in for the toss instead of Virat Kohli as the Indian Test captain did not take the field due to upper back spasm.
KL Rahul who got the honour to captain the Indian Test team for the first time in the absence of Virat won the toss and chose to bat first. Openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal gave India a steady start as Kagiso Rabada and Duanne Olivier bowled full throttle from both ends.
Mayank Agarwal was more aggressive of the two openers pouncing on every scoring opportunity. The change of bowling finally worked for the Proteas as youngster Marco Jansen who made his debut in Centurion got the wicket of Agarwal for out caught behind by wicket-keeper Kyle Verreynne.
South Africans kept the aggressive approach as Duanne Olivier removed out of form Cheteshwar Pujara for just 3. Extra bounce from Olivier ballooned towards the point where Temba Bavuma took a regulation catch. In the next delivery Olivier removed another out of form batter Ajinkya Rahane for a golden duck. Rahane became the 50th Test scalp for pacer Duanne Olivier.
