India and South Africa players were left disappointed on Monday when incessant rains washed out the entire day's play at the SuperSport Park in Centurion in the first Test. India had reached a strong position of 272/3 on the opening day of the three-match Test series for the Freedom Trophy 2021, with vice-captain KL Rahul scoring a majestic 122 not out.
The area in Centurion where the SuperSport Park is based witnessed overnight rain and it continued to pour down on Monday morning, not allowing the players to take the field. When it looked like it would continue to rain for the remainder of the day, the umpires decided to call off the play on the second day in the afternoon.
The umpires did carry out inspections, at around 11:30 AM local time and then once again at 12:45 PM when the downpour subsided, but rains returned to haunt once again and kept players confided in their dressing rooms. According to media reports as well as weather predictions, the third and the fourth days of the opening Test between India and South Africa are expected to be free from rains any intervention from unruly weather, which can still be expected on the fifth and final day which now becomes crucial given that entire second day was washed out.
It was India all the way on Sunday as the visiting side produced a strong batting performance led by Rahul. After he added 117 runs for the opening wicket with Mayank Agarwal, Rahul was involved in two other half-century partnerships to consolidate India's position in the contest. Rahul added 82 runs with India captain Virat Kohli (35) for the third wicket whereas his fourth wicket stand remained a bit a net 73 in the company of former vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane (40 not out).
Rahul's century was his fifth outside Asia and his first in South Africa. Mayank Agarwal did well to make 60, which came from 123 balls and seven hits to the boundary. For South Africa, all three wickets in the Indian innings went to right-arm fast bowler Lungi Ngidi.
Ngidi trapped Agarwal in front of the wickets in the second session on the first day, and on the next delivery he had Cheteshwar Pujara caught at short leg by Keegan Petersen for a first-ball duck. Interestingly, this was only the second time that Pujara had fallen for a golden duck in his Test career, with the first such instance being recorded at the same venue (Centurion) and against the same bowler, Ngidi.
The bulky South Africa fast bowler had more to bring on the table late in the third day when he had Kohli chasing one way well outside the off-stump, to be caught in the first slip for 35 from 94 balls, hitting 4 boundaries in the process.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
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