IND vs SA 2021-22, Boxing Day Test: Rahul's century to Pujara's duck - The talking points from Day 1
By Ayush Gupta | First Published Dec 27, 2021, 5:00 AM ISTIndia has given a tough time to South Africa on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test of the Freedom Trophy on Sunday. KL Rahul and Chetweshwar Pujara were among the talked player. Here are the talking points.
It has been a top performance by the Indian batters. They managed to put the South African pacers onto the backfoot on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test of the 2021-22 Freedom Trophy on Sunday at the Centurion Park. KL Rahul dominated with his century, being the headliner. Here, we present the talking points from the opening day.
KL Rahul - The man of all formats
Rahul continued with his pure form across formats. He slammed his seventh Test century to stamp his authority that be it any format; he is there to deliver. Despite the South Africans bouncing back with a couple of wickets in quick successions, he nipped in the bud to continue his excellent batting and make the Protea success shorth-lived. No wonder Rahul should play every Test hereon.
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Cheteshwar Pujara needs some serious reassessment
Pujara's horror form continued as he was dismissed for an unfortunate golden duck. Notably, it happened to be the second golden duck of his Test career, with the other once coming at this very ground. But, most importantly, Pujara's low-key run of late continued, without any century in over a year. It's about time that Pujara goes back to the drawing board and seriously does some reassessment to earn his precious form back.
Virat Kohli falls for it again and should control his impluses
Kohli could manage 35 runs. As for his dismissal, what was unique was that he fell for a good-length delivery outside the stump, only to fail to read the ball moving further away wide, edging it to the slips. Notably, he had faced seven straight dot deliveries that tempted him to go for the shot with the wide outside off delivery. While the plan from pacer Lungi Ngidi foiled the skipper, Kohli should control his impulses. Being a modern-day player, he is hungry to play the strokes and score, but that's not how it goes in Test cricket.
Ajinkya Rahane surprises with some gain in form
Rahane was seriously out of form until this Test. While his retention in the playing XI lifted a few eyebrows, it turns out that Kohli made the right call. The former vice-skipper has seemingly lost some burden off himself, as he has played a gentle knock of an unbeaten 40, slamming eight fours so far. While he looks on course for his 25th Test half-century, he better convert it to his 13th Test ton on Monday.
Protea bowlers making one specific big mistake
The Protea bowlers have struggled so far in getting regular wickets and breakthroughs. However, there seemed to be a notable flaw in their bowling. On most occasions, they were seen bowling onto the pads, as the Indian batters were wristy in flicking those deliveries onto the leg side for four. The South Africans must realise that the sub-continent batters are good at playing deliveries onto the pads and should instead try pitching it up more often, along with good-length deliveries.
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