IND vs SA: Watch - KL Rahul Receives Standing Ovation From Virat Kohli & Others After Hitting Hundred
KL Rahul held the fort for the Indian team on a tough pitch at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. When the other batters failed to sustain the innings, KL Rahul showed grit and determination in a tough batting condition. India was put in to bat first by the Proteas after winning the toss and Rohit Sharma and co. were on the field. The top order collapsed on a green Supersport wicket as Kagiso Rabada and Nandre Burger bundled the Indian top order.
The Indian skipper Rohit Sharma was the first to go back to the pavilion as he holed an easy catch at the deep fine-leg region after pulling a back-of-a-length delivery from Rabada. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill followed Rohit and India was 21/3 when Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer brought some stability by adding 68 runs for the fourth wicket. KL Rahul came into bat right after lunch when Kagiso Rabada cleaned Shreyas Iyer reducing India to 92/4.
KL Rahul played a terrific knock to complete his eighth Test century scoring 101 off 137 balls. Rahul’s innings included 14 fours and four maximums as he took on the Proteas bowling attack. He got bowled off Nandre Burger’s delivery and the Indian innings came to an end with 245 runs on the board. KL Rahul received a standing ovation from the dressing room after he completed his magnificent ton. He became the first Indian batter to score multiple hundreds in Centurion.
Watch- KL Rahul Receives Standing Ovation From The Dressing Room After A Superb Innings
MAN OF CRISIS OF INDIA??
Klassy ? from KL Rahul
A Knock that's remembered for a long time ???#KLRahul #INDvsSApic.twitter.com/b3tWOIH6t6— Aman Raina (@ImRaina45) December 27, 2023
https://twitter.com/TheDrArnav/status/1739935488822165967?t=T0oc7fVNBqdyyuOIaDIaYg&s=19
KL Rahul was looking for a partnership but wickets kept falling from the other end as Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin went back to the pavilion in a short duration. KL Rahul found some support from Shardul Thakur who added 24 runs to the team’s tally but fell short to Kagiso Rabada who got his wicket and completed his fifer.
KL Rahul started batting aggressively as soon as Jasprit Bumrah was cleaned by Marco Jansen and took on the Proteas bowling attack to the cleaners. He hit 14 fours and four sixes in his innings and made sure that India reached close to the 250-run mark. He was phenomenal with the bat whereas others failed to deliver and was the lone warrior for India on a difficult batting pitch at Centurion.
The Indian team has never won a Test series in South Africa and this time they have a great opportunity to rewrite the history. The 31-year-old jinx can come to an end this time because the Indian team does look strong on paper with South Africa lacking experience on their side. India can turn the tides in their favour and KL Rahul will be pivotal for India in this series as he will be keeping wickets for India as well.
India and South Africa will move to Newlands, Cape Town for the second Test but before that India will be hoping to win the first Test as it will be the first step for them on a journey to win their first-ever Test series on the South African soil.
