India vs South Africa: Rahul leads Indian fightback after Rabada’s five-for on rain-affected Day 1 at Centurion

KL Rahul dished out a fighting half-century to keep India in the hunt for a competitive score after South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada’s haul of 5/44 broke the backbone of the visiting team’s batting order on a rain-affected Day 1 of the first Test in Centurion on Tuesday.

As it happened: India vs South Africa, 1st Test in Centurion, Day 1

Rahul’s unbeaten 70 off 105 deliveries, which included 10 fours and two maximums, helped India reach 208/8 in the evening session before rain and poor light led to stumps being called earlier than the scheduled time.

The SuperSport Park in Centurion had received a spell of rain earlier in the day as well, which led to the toss getting delayed by 30 minutes.

Left-arm pacer Nandre Burger, who was one of the three debutants on Tuesday, struck twice in the morning session to get his Test career off to a cracking start.

One of the finest fast bowlers in contemporary cricket, Rabada bowled an absolute peach to dismiss Virat Kohli (38 off 64 balls) with the old ball after having bounced out Indian skipper Rohit Sharma (5) in his first spell.

In between, Shreyas Iyer (31 off 50 balls), who lived dangerously, got a shooter that completely exposed his defence.

Rabada’s 14th five-wicket haul in Tests also comprised the scalp of Ravichandran Ashwin, who was flummoxed by the extra bounce, and Shardul Thakur (24), who after a gutsy effort was softened by a bouncer to be taken out with a length delivery later.

Rahul looked solid but is slowly running out of partners as a first innings score of 250 looks a distant reality now.

THAT moment when @klrahul got to his half-century in Centurion.