IND vs SA: Rohit Sharma Becomes Kagiso Rabada's Bunny As South African Pacer Dismisses Indian Captain For A Record 13th Time

Kagiso Rabada has kick-started the South Africa vs India Test series on a high note. The first match of the two-match series between the teams, which is also a Boxing Day game, is taking place at the Supersport Park in Centurion. Kagiso Rabada opened his account of the series by dismissing Indian captain Rohit Sharma.

South Africa won the toss and opted to field first on a surface, which has been a lush green so far. Pacer Kagiso Rabada looked threatening right from the ball first he bowled in the game and sent a strong message to the opposition.

Kagiso Rabada beat the outside edge of both Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal quite a few times. With the way he was bowling, it was only a matter of time before he made an impact. He struck in the 5th over and made sure that drew the first blood for his team.

Kagiso Rabada didn’t take long to make an impact as he removed his bunny Rohit Sharma and jolted India early. It was a clever piece of bowling from him as after pitching it up, he surprised the Indian captain with a short ball.

Rohit Sharma got his instincts up as he took the short ball on and tried to dispatch it away. The ball went through with the pull but holed out to the fine-leg fielder. He looked in good touch until he gave away his wicket.

Rohit Sharma scored just 5 runs off 14 balls and his wicket left India tottering at 13/1. Kagiso Rabada dismissing the Indian captain was well all the most expected because the pacer has been all over the right-hander in the longest format of the game.

With Rohit Sharma getting out to Kagiso Rabada this time as well, it marked the 13th incident when the fast bowler removed him. This has been the most time the India captain has been removed by any bowler in his career in Tests.

The second best is Tim Southee, who has removed Rohit Sharma 12 times. Here is the list of bowlers to dismiss Rohit Sharma most times in the longest format of the game:

13 – Kagiso Rabada*
12 – Tim Southee
10 – Angelo Mathews
9 – Nathan Lyon
8 – Trent Boult

IND vs SA: Kagiso Rabada vs Rohit Sharma in Tests

Kagiso Rabada has been all over Rohit Sharma in Test cricket. The fast bowler has removed him 5 times in the longest format of the game. Overall, he has bowled 204 deliveries to the India captain, who has scored just 100 runs.

Rohit Sharma has an average of just 20 against Kagiso Rabada in the Tests. The average becomes even worse in South African conditions as it dips down to just 9. The India captain would be hoping to be better than average in the remaining three innings of the series.

Coming to the first Test between the teams, the first session ended with both the teams having their moments. In the first half of the session, South Africa was all over the Indians as they bowled impeccable lines and lengths and left them tottering at 24/3 with Rohit, Yashasvi Jaiswal (17), and Shubman Gill (2) back.

After that, Virat Kohli (33) and Shreyas Iyer (31*) joined hands and bailed the team out of trouble. They batted well and made sure that India didn’t lose more wickets. At lunch on Day 1, India was 91/3.