India and South Africa are currently involved in first of the two-match Test series at the Supersport Park in Centurion. The visitors were invited to bat first who posted 245 runs on the board thanks to KL Rahul’s exceptional ton in testing conditions. This is the first time in Test cricket that he is playing as wicketkeeper-batter and has shined right away with the bat.
Meanwhile, Rahul did the unthinkable with his century in Centurion as he became the first player ever to smash a 50-plus score across all three formats as a wicketkeeper-batter. He played his first match with the gloves in hand in January 2020 against Australia in an ODI scoring 80 runs. He followed the good work in the T20I as well smashing 56 runs against New Zealand and has debuted as Test wicketkeeper with a century at the Supersport Park.
No other wicketkeeper had achieved this feat before KL Rahul in cricket history even as he bailed the Indian team out of trouble after being 121/6 at one stage. In the context of the match, Rahul’s innings was massive for India given the conditions being conducive for bowlers. He shepherded the tail superbly adding 43 runs with Shardul Thakur, 27 runs with Jasprit Bumrah and 47 runs with Mohammed Siraj before getting out on 101 runs.
As far as the match is concerned, no other Indian batter apart from Rahul could even cross the 50-run mark with Virat Kohli being the highest scoring 38 runs. Perhaps, India were struggling at 24/3 at one stage and if not for the drops of Iyer and Kohli, the visitors would’ve found themselves in a lot of trouble early on Day 1.
