Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul gave India the perfect start in the first Test of the series against South Africa at Centurion on Sunday.
The touring team’s opening pair reached lunch on 83/0 with Agarwal on 46 and, vice captain Rahul, on 29
India’s captain Virat Kohli could not have asked for more after winning the toss and batting under cloudy skies on a pitch that had a fair grass covering. However, while there were hints of seam and swing, the pace off the surface was such that both batters were largely untroubled.
SA, made a somewhat surprising choice in selecting tall left-arm seamer Marco Jansen to make his debut over the in-form Duanne Olivier.
Jansen was called on in the 10th over, after Lungi Ngidi - who is playing his first match in five months - and Kagiso Rabada, bowled a pair of rusty spells with the new ball. That was the trend for the home team for the remainder of the session.
The Indian openers left the ball comfortably outside off-stump, while Agarwal, the more aggressive of the two, drove smartly when the chance presented itself.
Jansen started with a “heart in the throat” full toss, that Agarwal smashed to the cover boundary and then in adjusting his line, was put away through midwicket for the same outcome. He battled with his line and length in the first half of a six-over spell, but recovered well to create the only chance of the morning in the 18th over.
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Jansen got one to bounce and nip away from Agarwal, drawing the right hander into a shot, which he edged high to Quinton de Kock’s right. The wicket-keeper leapt, got a full glove to it, but grassed the opportunity, with Agarwal on 36 and India’s total on 52.
Wiaan Mulder was the best of SA’s bowlers, finding the right line, around off-stump on a consistent basis, to trouble both openers.
However, beside Agarwal’s miss-judgment against Jansen, the tourists openers made few mistakes, providing them with the control Kohli would have demanded at the start of the series in which they are chasing a big chunk of history, trying to become the first Indian team to win a Test series in SA.
The Proteas players wore black armbands in honour of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died on Sunday morning. Tutu was a very enthusiastic cricket follower and often attended the New Year’s Test in Cape Town.
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