SA vs IND, First Test: India bounce, five-star Rabada; Rahul shows courage on a rainy day
Rahul has looked solid but is slowly running out of partners as a score of 250 in the first innings now seems a distant reality.
Centurion, Dec 26 (PTI) Kagiso Rabada was at his lethal best, knocking the stuffing out of India’s finest ‘prima donnas’ with a five on a track that offered extra and variable bounce as South Africa took control of proceedings on the opening day of the first test here on Tuesday.
KL Rahul (70 innings, 105 balls) continued his love affair with Supersport Park and showed excellent temperament on a difficult pitch, taking India to 208 for 8 in 59 overs when rain forced early stumps.
Rabada (5/44 in 17 overs) bowled two of the most intimidating and incisive spells we have seen in recent times, completely rocking the Indian batting line-up that was struggling to cope with the conditions was put.
Rabada, one of the best fast bowlers in contemporary cricket, bowled an absolute peach to dismiss Virat Kohli (38 off 64 balls) with the old ball after dismissing Indian skipper Rohit Sharma (5) in his first over.
In between, Shreyas Iyer (31 off 50 balls), living dangerously, got a shooter that completely exposed his defense.
Rabada’s 14th five-wicket haul in Tests also included the scalps of Ravichandran Ashwin, who was confused by the extra bounce, and Shardul Thakur (24), who was softened by a bouncer after a brave effort only to be later delivered with a long delivery to be turned off. .
Rahul has looked solid but is slowly running out of partners as a score of 250 in the first innings now seems a distant reality.
Rabada, who got a break from his white ball leg, took no time to get into rhythm as he bowled long spells, getting an unsettling bounce along with a late swing that left the Indian batters confused.
The way Kohli was forced into a mistake was a learning experience for young pacers.
Rabada threw a few inbound deliveries to push him onto the back foot and then unleashed his deadly weapon.
He made an almost 31-year-old Kookaburra to pull in and kept it at full length as Kohli shaped himself to play inside the line of delivery.
But to his surprise, the ball deflected late, sending the outside edge into the hands of keeper Kyle Verreynne.
Kohli was given a huge reprieve in the first session when he was on four when Tony de Zorzi dropped a dolly at square leg from debutant Nandre Burger (2/39), but he then carried out the repair work with Iyer.
At the toss, Temba Bavuma made the expected decision to bowl first and his bowlers made the most of the conditions in that first hour.
The steep tennis ball-like bounce was always going to cause problems for the star-studded Indian line-up, which has played only white-ball formats for the past six months.
His counterpart Bavuma, who later limped with a left hamstring strain, realized the compulsive trigger in Rohit and fielded a long-legged fielder, just as all international skippers are deployed in different formats.
After bowling in and around the off-stump, Rabada dug one that was short but the height was just above the waist and Rohit bit the bait, looking for the pull.
Citizen who stood at least 10 meters within the boundary of the long legs only had to complete the formalities.
Young Yashasvi Jaiswal, all two Tests, initially played close to his body, allowing the away deliveries to just miss his bat.
He clipped Rabada through mid-wicket and also cut Burger square for boundaries.
While bowling a bit on the fourth stump channel, the left-arm paceman changed his line and bowled one at fuller length on the off-stump.
The ball held its line and enticed Jaiswal to take a drive and the nick was accepted by Verreynne behind the stumps.
But the delivery Burger bowled to dismiss Gill was a classic setup.
He kept the stylish right-hander quiet with long deliveries on the mid-leg line, leaving no room for him to play offside.
Like New Zealand left-arm pacer Neil Wagner, who ruthlessly bowls the ribcage line to the right-handers, Burger changed his tactics and kept one down the right. Gill’s armpit and the batsman didn’t have enough reaction time to stop him wiping his gloves on the way to the goalkeeper’s gloves.