South Africa new ball bowlers benefitted from the bowling friendly conditions to leave India wobbling after a delayed start to the opening Test against India in Centurion on Tuesday.
If the first half of the morning session belonged to South Africa, the next half went in India’s favour with sun out in all its glory allowing the tourist a semblance of recovery from 24/3 to 91/3 when the lunch break was taken.
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South Africa captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and expectedly, opted to bowl first after the toss was delayed by half-an-hour due to wet outfield. And on cue, Kagiso Rabada delivered an early blow when he surprised India captain Rohit Sharma with a short delivery which he pulled to fine leg fielder Gerald Coetzee to hole out cheaply on 5 in the fifth over.
The task to lead recovery from the early jolt fell on the young shoulders of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill but debutant Nandre Burger made a dream start to his Test career by getting rid of both in the space of three deliveries.
Burger first had Jaiswal caught behind on 17 before getting a not out decision given in favour of Gill reversed with the ultra-edge registering a spike when the ball passed his glove.
The duo of Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer benefitted from a dropped catch each to stitch a solid partnership and helped India fight back from the triple jolts.
Kohli looked compact, hitting four fours in his 47-ball 33 not out while Iyer was a little adventurous to reach 31 off 46 with the help of three fours and a six.
Together, they have added 67 for the fourth wicket in what was an engrossing opening session of play.
India have never won a Test series on South African soil having come close twice in 2010-11 and 2021-22.
Brief Scores: India 91/3 in 26 overs (Virat Kohli 33*, Shreyas Iyer 31*) vs South Africa (Nandre Burger 2/23, Kagiso Rabada 1/15)
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