India 157/2 at tea time on Day 1 of Centurion test

KL Rahul and Virat Kohli were at the crease, after Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwer Pujara were dismissed

KL Rahul and Virat Kohli kept India ticking despite double strikes by Lungi Ngidi as the visitors made 157/2 at tea on Day One of the Boxing Day Test at SuperSport Park. South Africa improved on their performance in the wicketless first session but Rahul and Mayank Agarwal crossed a century stand for the opening wicket while reaching their respective half-centuries. With Rahul and Kohli still at the crease, India are in a very good position in the match.

The second session began with Agarwal reaching his half-century with a creamy drive through the long-off off Marco Jansen. Jansen would come under further attack from Rahul, clipping through mid-wicket and outer edge flying through slip cordon as the Karnataka duo brought up the century of opening partnership, marking it the third hundred-plus opening stand for India in South Africa.

Rahul gained pace as he drove Wiaan Mulder twice through sweeper cover while Agarwal tucked a short ball from Ngidi through fine leg. But on the next ball, Ngidi trapped Agarwal leg-before-wicket with a delivery that came in from the back of a length and hit the pads after going past the inner edge. South Africa took the review and got to change the decision as ball-tracking showed hitting the top of leg-stump, ending India's opening stand at 117.

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One brought two for Ngidi, as he bowled a fiery in-swinger which Cheteshwar Pujara inner-edged to his thigh and lobbed to Keegan Petersen, running in from backward short leg. It was also the second time Pujara bagged a duck in his test career. Coincidentally, both came at Centurion and had Ngidi involved (in 2018, he affected the run-out of Pujara).

Rahul brought up his 13th test fifty with a nicely timed cover drive off Ngidi. Virat Kohli was off the mark by leaning into the cover drive off Jansen and followed it up with a clip through mid-on off left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, looking in good touch. Rahul and Kohli kept the scoreboard ticking to ensure India didn't lose a wicket till tea despite Mulder and Maharaj getting some assistance from the pitch.

Earlier, Rahul and Mayank Agarwal justified captain Kohli's decision to bat first with a careful yet solid opening stand as India reached 83/0 in 28 overs at lunch.