Virat Kohli and team break South Africa’s fortress Centurion on Thursday to take a 1-0 lead in three-match Test series. South Africa face their third-ever Test defeat in Centurion and it was the first time when an Asian team break their fortress.
India have play dominant cricket in Test format in the past couple of years and South Africa are the’ final frontier’ for them and the win on Thursday has uplift their confidence to complete the quest.
India outclass South Africa in all three departments in the 113-run win.
It was not an individual brilliance but the collective performances from the players which got India the win.
Hero’s of India’s historic win in Centurion :
KL Rahul
KL Rahul, India opener continues to impress everyone with his sublime batting. Rahul set up the foundation of India’s massive win with a majestic 123-run knock in the first innings.
The batter show the others how to bat on the tricky surface of Centurion but none of them were able to emulate it.
Rahul display a lot of patience in the first couple of hours of the game as he batted out the tough spells from Kagiso Rabada and other bowlers.
The 29-year-old took the charge over the bowlers after the ball got old.
In the second innings, Rahul face the most numbers of balls by the Indian batter 74 balls.
Mohammed Shami
Mohammed Shami stood out for India in the bowling department with 8 wickets on a tricky surface that was not offering much swing.
Shami with his excellent seam position and strong wrist trouble the South African batters in the first innings where he claimed his sixth five-wicket haul.
Mohammed Shami took over the charge of the Indian pace attack in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah in the first innings who was out of the field for a long time after twisting his right ankle on follow through.
Shami ran through the South African batting order to restrict them for just 197 as India took a healthy 130-run first-innings lead.
Shami continued to trouble the Proteas batters in the second innings and claimed three-wicket as India bowled them out for 191 to register a historic win.
Mohammed Siraj
Mohammed Siraj, the young pacer bowled his heart out in every over.
There was never a lack of energy when he had the ball in hand.
Siraj ran hard against the Proteas batters and ask them a tough questions throughout the Test.
Siraj ends up the match with only 3 wickets which couldn’t justify his contribution to the win.
Mohammed Siraj bowled with a lot of aggression which put the hosts’ batters on their toes.
With every performance, Siraj is making his case stronger to become an integral part of India’s rich fast bowling attack.
Mayank Agarwal
Mayank Agarwal shows his talent once again and score a fluent 60 on day 1 of the Test match.
Agarwal took the pressure off his opening partner and good friend KL Rahul who was batting with a cautious approach in the initial.
Mayank contribute a 117-run stand with Rahul to take India off to a solid start in the series opener.
A controversial decision from the third umpire ends his stay in the middle.
Mayank had a huge responsibility to fill in the shoes of Rohit Sharma, who miss the series due to a hamstring injury, and the 30-year-old did well in the opening Test.
THANK YOU FOR READING.
