Live Report - South Africa vs India, 1st Test, Centurion

A fast-forward Test match came to a fast-forward end as South Africa rolled India over inside three days to secure victory by an innings and 32 runs. And boy, did they have fun doing it.

Nandre Burder and his team-mates broke into a smile. He had found so much movement that the ball ended up in the hands of first slip. India had spent 108.4 overs searching for help like that.

Wiaan Mulder threw his head into the turf. He thought he'd dropped Virat Kohli. But really what happened was the ball had moved so sharply it beat the leading edge as the batter tried to play a flick shot and bounced off his thigh towards first slip.

Centurion was alive.

India, meanwhile, were barely holding on. It is unclear if SammyB on ESPNcricinfo commentary feedback is South African but he nailed the mood when he said, "the high-pitched horror movie scream at 8.4 was quite something". That was Shubman Gill, by the way, in pure panic as he tried to convince Kohli not to take a risky single.

India batting lasted a mere 34.1 overs on Thursday and featured eight single-digit scores. That in a way highlighted just how poorly they had bowled, letting just one man outscore their second-innings total.

So how did it happen? Why was there such a gulf? Well, once again, it had a lot to do with the pitch - it never died down, there was always help on offer - and the profile of the two teams' fast bowlers.

Early on, it was the good length ball that was creating the most problems. Now, after two days of wear and tear and some excellent morning sunshine, it had shifted to back of a length, where there were cracks and divots starting to form. Landing the ball there was creating variable bounce.

South Africa had an attack better suited to exploit it. Higher release points. Better pace. And perhaps most importantly a lot of rest. Dean Elgar's 185 and Marco Jansen's 84 not out had ensured they were extremely fresh when it was their turn to bowl in the evening and they did not disappoint.

Virat Kohli did his best to keep them at bay, scoring a 76 off 82 balls, but he was always fighting a rising tide.

India are losing wickets to run-outs now.

Bumrah gone.

Mohammed Siraj becomes the second batter caught behind while leaving the ball. This is ending quickly.

Nandre Burger has seven wickets on Test debut. Incredible stuff.

Biiiiig blow for India.

KL Rahul falls to the drive too. It fits the narrative that India see the drive ball as hittable; as run-gettable.

But Burger has actually got wickets with it all Test. His first one was off a very full delivery that tempted the drive. He's getting swing, while all the others are striking with seam movement.

Rahul played these kinds of shots early in his innings when he made a century just a day ago. He even acknowledged that luck played a big part in him scoring 101. Here he isn't lucky. Nicks off to second slip.

Burger strikes again before the over is out, R Ashwin playing a loose shot outside off to be caught in the gully

Virat Kohli doesn't do risk in Test cricket, which is why he has hit only 24 sixes in a career that's spanned 111 matches.

But here he's found one over cover point. And all he wanted to do is ride the bounce on offer and lift it over the infield. Only he's timed it so well the ball carries all the way. Hashim Amla on commentary says he has never seen Kohli hit a six like that before and he's right.

In 111 matches, Kohli has never hit a six over cover point. In his 112th, he nails one.

CSA says: Following continuous medical assessments, it was determined there was too much of a risk of aggravating his injury had he gone out to bat at this stage of the game [in the first innings when SA were nine down]. The medical team are managing him to give him the best chance to bat should he be required in the 4th innings.

Dropping Iyer only cost two runs for South Africa. Their back-up bowlers are still not necessarily unhittable, but one of em has the most wickets against his name in this innings

This pitch is tough to deal with when the ball is back of a length. So it looks like India are doing everything they can to attack the really pitched-up balls. Shubman GIll was bowled going after one of those. Now Iyer is bowled going after one of those. What do you do when your plans start out making sense but in the end just don't work?

They will have been 62 for 4 with Shreyas Iyer out for 4

But Keegan Petersen drops a catch diving in front of second slip, with just one hand reaching out for the ball.

Marco Jansen, who missed out on a maiden Test century, has missed out on a wicket as well. His confidence as a bowler has been down. The boundaries he leaked wouldn't have helped. The wicket he actually did take will have. And he might even have been back feeling like his old self if he'd led his team off the park with India four down.

Shubman Gill in those six balls highlights why his Test career is still a work in progress.

One moment he plays the most god like extra cover drive on the up and gets four for it.

Next moment he misses a straight ball and gets bowled.

Remarkably high ceiling. Still not enough discipline. Maybe he just got carried away a bit; frustrated with how the game has been going against his team and desperate to change that; to just dominate and never let up.

Marco Jansen has been the weak link in this South African bowling attack and now he has a wicket.

Five boundaries in 11 overs bowled by Rabada and Burger.

Five already in just three overs bowled by Jansen and Coetzee.

Much like India's support bowlers couldn't hack it, South Africa's are struggling too.

Extra bounce.

See, this pitch is scary.

SA have a fresh bowling attack. They've just spent like 100 odd overs with their feet up.

Nandre Burder, on Test debut too, simply hits that just back of a good length area around the off stump line.

There's divots and cracks all over the pitch now. It lends itself to extra bounce.

So long as you make sure the line is right and it demands the batter to make a decision - play or leave - you're in the game.

Jaiswal is actually trying to leave. But he underestimates the bounce. Its his first senior tour of South Africa. All of a sudden, even as he is trying to get himself out of harm's way, the ball follows him, rises up to his glove, kisses it and goes through to the keeper.

High release. Higher pace. Fresher bowlers. Wickets galore.

Can't blame him for this dismissal though. He had no chance against Rabada in this form.

It's seam movement. So it doesn't show up until the ball actually pitches.

Rohit can only read the angle into him and present the full face of the bat. He does that well.

But it doesn't matter because the length is unplayable. He wants to come forward but even then he has no chance of meeting it where it lands. He can't go back because it is actually full.

The perfect, in-between, annoying, exquisite length.

And from there, wobble-seam magic takes over. The ball lands on the seam. It decks away. Past the outside edge but not so far that it misses off stump.

UN-PLAYABLE.

Rohit's average vs Rabada in Tests in SA is 6.2 (6 innings, 31 runs, 5 dismissals).

Kagiso Rabada could have begun the innings with a wicket!

Yashasvi Jaiswal would have ended up with a golden duck after fielding for more than 100 overs.

Aiden Markram shells a tough chance at second slip, the ball dying on him as he dives to his right.

Unplayable ball. Pitching outside leg stump, just back of a good length, and darting across the left-hander. Jaiswal had to play, but he might have gone at it slightly hard-handed.

Dean Elgar faced plenty of similar deliveries at the start of the innings. Luck was with him, to the point that he didn't edge any of em. Luck is with Jaiswal too, it seems. He edged it, but it didn't matter.

Even in that one over of bowling, SA look better equipped to harness these conditions. Higher release points. Higher pace. And a focus on hitting the pitch in the 6-8m area.

While South Africa's players prepared to bowl to India in the second innings, one was conspicuous by his absence: Temba Bavuma. The captain has barely been seen since he left the field on the opening day with what was later confirmed as a left hamstring strain and there has also been no communication on how he is progressing. He was spotted hobbling at training on both the second and third mornings but has not been on the dressing room balcony through the match, preferring to sit in the back or out of view.

When Nandre Burger was dismissed, the SuperSport Park crowd expected him to come down the stairs, even if just to hold an end while Marco Jansen tried to get a Test hundred and called "Bavuma, Bavuma," but to no avail. The captain failed to read the room, so to speak, and remained out of sight. Bavuma did not bat, and has not taken the field for the second innings. The amount of time he will spend off the field will likely means he will only be able to bat in the second innings when South Africa have lost five wickets and there remains heavy doubt over his participation in the New Year's Test.

Marco Jansen was looking at a maiden first-class hundred.

The crowd too were counting down to it.

As soon as Jasprit Bumrah knocked over Nande Burger's stumps with a yorker and left SA nine down, they were calling for Temba Bavuma to walk out and bat. But it appears the hamstring injury he's picked up is problematic enough that he can't.

So Jansen is left stranded on 84 not out. Brilliant innings and it might be worth more than just those runs he has against his name. On a personal standpoint, it will give him confidence when he is back out there to bowl.

From a team standpoint, the way he made those runs will teach them where not to bowl. Jansen took every opportunity he had to drive, even if it was on the up. Those balls today didn't really do much - the good length balls in the 4-6m area on the pitch.

The ones back of a length - in the 6-8m area of the pitch - is where the danger is (uneven bounce) and India weren't really able to tap into it. SA just might

Jasprit Bumrah makes Kagiso Rabada's stumps cartwheel out of the ground with an absolute peach.

He was totally looking for the magic ball and he found it. Running from around the wicket, canting the seam almost 45 degrees towards gully, angling it as sharply into off stump - everything he could do to make that ball straighten, he did. And it did. BIG time.

Rabada is stuck in his crease, because the other thing about this delivery is it is pitched on a perfect length. Can't come forward, can't go back, all he can do is hope.

Rabada is stunned for a second. Then he looks up at Bumrah with eyes that can't quite believe what's happened. Bumrah holds the stare. Then - and here's the cool thing - he just shrugs. He just shrugs and smiles. Rabada smiles too as he walks off. He's conjured enough magic himself to know that was too good.

Beautiful moment between two great fast bowlers.

Where's the advantage of taking a wicket?

India are trying a short-ball ploy now but Shardul Thakur may not be the best to implement it. Not enough pace. And he will know that himself. The fact that he's still trying is why India rate him. He's happy to take a beating if it will lead to a wicket. He's always happy to try even on a bad day like this.

Prasidh Krishna replaces Thakur to continue the bouncer barrage. He's got a little more pace. But he's on Test debut. He doesn't have enough experience playing days cricket. South Africa have seen that as a weakness all innings long and even Gerald Coetzee is looking to exploit it. Takes a back of a length ball that doesn't bounce enough this time and wallops it off the front foot over the bowler's head and then gives him a stare.

No place to hide in Test cricket.

Caught down the leg side thanks to extra bounce.

If a guy on 185 is getting done like that, off a bowler with Shardul Thakur's pace, imagine what's going to happen when Kagiso Rabada gets the ball...

Sublime innings from the South Africa opener.

He is replaced at the crease by Gerald Coetzee. So it looks increasingly likely that Temba Bavuma won't be playing much of a part in this Test match, or at least this Test innings.

Marco Jansen has not looked himself since South Africa's World Cup game against India at Eden Gardens and appears down on confidence as a bowler. He seems to be particularly wary of bowling wides, and has been operating within himself. While that needs work, this innings shows that he still has belief in his ability as a batter and could prove the catalyst to turn his mindset around. Jansen has long said he prefers batting to bowling - and started off as a top-order player as a youngster - and with South Africa looking for ways to lengthen the line-up, he is providing the answers. He's been very very good on the drive, btw. Check out all those runs through mid-off and extra cover.

The noise coming out of South Africa is that they can't afford to host Test matches; its not profitable unless they're playing India, Australia or England.

Imagine being Dean Elgar. All he plays is Test cricket and pragmatism - it is pragmatism, because how can you keep throwing money at something you know won't make money - is standing in his way. It'd be easier to shoot it down if it was something else, something ill-conceived.

Part of the reason he is retiring is because South Africa want to blood the next generation of Test batters in the limited amount of matches they have available to them, the Tony de Zorzis and the David Bedinghams, and to do that someone needs to step aside. So after this series, Elgar will step aside. For right now, he is standing tall.

With Temba Bavuma injured mid-match, this became the least experienced top six line-up for South Africa since 1997. India will have fancied themselves to do more damage. It still looks like they only need to take nine wickets. They will certainly feel like its a missed opportunity. Those feelings ran rampant in 2021 as well.

They understood the value of picking up a wicket before it was due, which is why they began with Bumrah and Siraj at the top of the day, and they did create chances.

Marco Jansen nicked the ball twice to the keeper and the first time it didn't carry to Rahul. The second time, it got too big on him.

India could have been bowling at a new batter with the new ball but it just hasn't happened for them. They've been really patchy... but they also have reason to feel aggrieved because their good work has not yielded a whole lot of rewards.

That's real credit to South Africa too because every time the pressure was building - like this morning when the first six overs cost just 12 runs - they were alert to the first possibility to diffuse it. Every opportunity to hit boundaries were taken and all of a sudden the lead was up above 50 and they could feel comfortable again.

Rahul touched on it in his press conference last evening. "In every situation, game, pitch it's always about who creates more pressure. If the batsman does it, then the batsman and the batting team has the advantage. If the bowlers can do it, then it's an advantage for them."

SA's batters have been more successful at building pressure than India's bowlers.

And he gets there with the cover drive. He's played a lot of those; almost as if the realisation that he won't be able to use it for too much longer making him want to show off. He's got 37 runs with just that shot alone; 78 of them on the offside over all. That's atypical for him.

Prasidh Krishna meanwhile is still suffering through a very tough initiation into Test cricket. This is a pitch that is offering variable bounce off just back of a length. That's the spot he should be sticking in; camping in.

Instead, he goes too short, which is too easy, then he overcorrects and bowls half-volleys and full tosses. South Africa's lead is nearing 50 now. It is hard work debuting overseas, even harder when you've had only 13 first-class matches behind you. Gotta feel for the guy.

Jasprit Bumrah hasn't played Test cricket for one and a half years. His pace is in the late 130kph. It's a vestige of the back injury he had to battle through to get back to the top level.

Even when he is bowling within himself, he is creating problems. Marco Jansen is lucky to still be out there. He nicked one through to the keeper in the first over of the day but it fell short.

Up and down bounce has arrived in this Test match. And a 72-over old ball is scooting low and kicking up off virtually the same length off the surface. After two days of wear and tear, the cracks and divots have begun to show and when the ball is hitting those cracks and divots it's doing unexpected things.

Been bright and sunny this morning and that's helped bake the pitch in too. So the pace of the ball as it comes off will increase too. The batter won't have as much time as they did on days one and two to adjust to the vagaries it throws up.

Welcome back. It's a beautiful morning out in Centurion and the crowd there has really added to the spectacle of a hard-fought Test match. They were willing the hometown boy Dean Elgar on as he reached fifty. They were swoooooooning for him when he brought up his hundred. There was never a dull moment. The brass band took care of that. Their tunes were so catchy they were making Virat Kohli dance.

Its really really nice that Test cricket can still be fun for the people.

Dean Elgar is in pain as he gets whacked on the glove by a Prasidh Krishna ball that kicks up from back of a length.

He was shaking his head not so long ago, worried by the light deteriorating, and that ball doing things he didn't expect wouldn't have put him in any better mood.

Seeing a set batter done like that could have prompted the umpires to look at the light meter and they don't like the reading on there. We go off and its likely we might not come on.

Elgar is still out there but Bedingham is gone. His strength fails him as Siraj knocks back his stumps. Weight transfer has been the reason why he was able to score so freely on a seam-friendly pitch but here he doesn't do it properly. The fact that he had to take a step or two to balance himself after playing the shot was a dead giveaway that he was stuck in his crease and playing with just his hands.

And that wicket leads to another one - see these are still tough conditions out there and India really haven't made the most of them. Wickets should be falling in clumps like these but they haven't. The bowling in this Test match, from both teams, hasn't really been all that great.

Prasidh Krishna is off the mark in Tests, removing Kyle Verreynee. SA 249 for 5 now. The allrounders are in.

SA have made 41 runs in nine overs since the resumption.

Even India's frontline quicks, Bumrah and Siraj, aren't able to stop them. Their pace is down too, from the 140 kph into the 130 kph.

There are 22 overs to the new ball. Both batters are set. This could lead to even more damage.

David Bedingham has looked brilliant so far. It was immediately apparent that he has a rock solid back foot game. After tea, he's played a couple of shots off the front foot that show he's no one-trick pony.

His game, really, is built around weight transfer. He isn't moving a great deal to meet the ball. But with what little he does, he makes sure his weight goes into the shot. There was flick off Jasprit Bumrah that typified this strength. It was the kind of ball that right-handers could fall over and end up lbw if they weren't careful. But Bedingham was careful. He met it late, under his eyes, and didn't overhit it.

He is obviously an attacking batter who likes feeling bat on ball and India haven't really tested his patience.

Thakur (8-2-41-0) and Prasidh (10-2-51-0) are both going at over 5 an over.

India's back-up bowlers have let them down badly here.

SA are 181 for 3, with a run rate of 4, after 45 overs. They trail by only 64 runs.

In his final Test on his home ground, Dean Elgar scores a very accomplished Test century.

He celebrates it with a lot more flamboyance than he allows himself while batting.

Leaps up, punches the air, screams out loud and keeps going. This may explain the explosive celebration.

As all good opening batters, he made sure to keep the good ones out and cashed in every time there was something in his area. India were generous with those. Elgar had plenty of occasion to indulge in his favourite shots, especially the cover drive.

Firdose Moonda, from the ground, says this completes an important set for Elgar. He now has a hundred on every ground he has played a Test in South Africa

David Bedingham begins his South Africa career on the back of 86 first-class matches.

He seems to like playing off the back foot, pulled Prasidh Krishna for a six the moment he thought about targeting him with a short ball.

For a large portion of his career, he's been in England, and actually had thoughts of representing them at the highest level. "Me and my missus like staying in Newcastle and in England, so we see it as a long-term plan to live here." he said in February 2022.

Clearly something's changed and it might be to South Africa's credit. Bedingham looks unfazed at the crease; his shots don't feel rushed. He came in when SA lost two wickets for nine runs. He's already 20 off 31 balls.

So, a weird thing happened.

In the 28th over, Mohammed Siraj in his follow through ran all the way up to the batter's stumps and switched the bails around.

In the 29th over, India strike.

This bit of magic comes from the Ashes. Stuart Broad saw Nathan Lyon do it once and so he did it earlier this summer and because he's Stuart Broad, master of the ethereal, a wicket fell immediately.

Siraj needs to work on his supernatural powers. It took a whole over for the bail switch to kick in.

Tony de Zorzi is caught at third slip off Jasprit Bumrah.

In the 31st over, Keegan Petersen is bowled off the inside edge.

SA go from 104 for 1 to 113 for 3.

India after lunch.

First eight overs with the back-up bowlers: 0 for 42.

Next 10 overs with their new-ball bowlers: 2 for 41

SA have basically doubled the score they had before the break (49) by the time India realise they needed to get their best bowlers back on

A feature of his innings has been the cover drives and he raises this landmark with one.

Centurion was willing him on when he was 49, the crowd clapping him as the bowler charged in, their mood joyful, expectant.

Elgar presents the full face of the bat, getting quite a way forward to meet the ball, and the sound off the bat is gorgeous. It's just a push but there's so much on it that the fielder at cover can't grab it cleanly and the ball rebounds so far it offers the chance to sneak a single and he does.

A fifty off just 79 balls.

India open the post-lunch session with their third-choice fast bowler and a debutant.

And for a while it worked. Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna opened with maidens each, producing a few plays and misses.

The thing is, on this pitch, you have to keep at it. You have to keep hitting the 4-6m area on and around the off stump over and over and over like a machine.

Both Thakur and Prasidh do not

Because, as established earlier, they aren't the best India have to offer. They are the support act.

So it begs the question. Why has Rohit Sharma not gone to Jasprit Bumrah after his initial six over spell?

Prasidh Krishna isn't having a whole lot of fun on his Test debut

Dean Elgar IS having a whole lot of fun in his final series. Each of those boundaries came off his bat.

South Africa are already 49 for 1 after 16 overs.

You wanna hear something funny?

After the first 10 overs, SA have scored quicker when they've not been in control of the ball - 14 off 25, with three fours at a strike rate 56 - than they have when they've been in control - 19 off 34, with two fours at a strike rate 47

What that says, broadly, is that it is really tough to bat out there and those mis-hits are ending up where there aren't a lot of fielders.

Dean Elgar has made playing and missing into an art form.

He gets squared up so often.

But the thing is he doesn't get out.

As an opening batter, you face the opposition bowlers when they're at their freshest, wielding a brand new ball, and since he's South African, it was also likely that the conditions in favour of them and not him.

As it is here.

So him looking ugly is a win because he is looking ugly while still being out there. And on occasion it even adds to the bowlers' frustration. It did to India's in 2021.

This is Elgar's last Test series - and therefore his last engagements as a player with South African cricket. And in a little twist of fate, with the regular captain Temba Bavuma picking up a hamstring injury, he is essentially leading them out there. Eleven years of unflinching service, from a batter who can totally throw down. Salute.

In 2021, India came with a team that seemed to have everything, but went back with a 2-1 defeat, crying conspiracy even. They were frustrated that their much improved seam attack wasn't able to pick up wickets like South Africa were.

That had a lot to do with the conditions, where the pitches didn't necessarily offer a lot off a good length area, but the indents and cracks at short of a length were certainly troubling the batters.

Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur are good length bowlers.

Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen and Duanne Olivier are short of a length bowlers.

That essentially was the difference. The profile of the home team's bowling attack was better suited to the conditions on offer.

This time around, Centurion is much more amenable to the ball that is pitched up. And already India have profited from it, removing Aiden Markram in the fourth over for just 5.

He had just 5 runs to his name when India's lower order was exposed.

Batting with two bowling allrounders, and now just the fast bowlers, KL Rahul has produced perhaps his best batting effort in international cricket.

He's 101 out of a total of 245 with 14 fours and four sixes on a pitch that has been LOADED in the fast bowlers' favour.

It is testament to his judgment. He hasn't gone chasing at balls outside off stump.

And it is testament to his intent. He hasn't lived in fear of his wicket falling, he was always awake to a boundary ball. Even this morning, after Rabada beat him four times in four balls, the very next ball he faced was short and wide and he upper cut it away for four.

It is also testament to how much he's enjoying his game now. There was one ball where he got beaten and he flashed a big huuuge smile. He is loving this contest. He is loving how much its testing him and best of all he is loving how he is standing up to the test.

The entire Indian dressing room stood up to applaud Rahul as he got to his hundred. That shows just how much they value this effort. The innings ends with him being bowled but India have a pretty good total now.

That's the 61st over of this match. It was UN-play-ABLE.

KL Rahul who has looked the best batter out there was beaten on every single one of those last four deliveries.

It is seam movement. So it doesn't show up until the ball pitches. Rabada, to his immense credit, makes sure it pitches in line with off stump which means Rahul has to play. And each time his bat is of no use to him.

To Rahul's immense credit, he did not follow any of those deliveries. If he had, he wouldn't be out there batting. In another tick against his name, he's decided he needs to attack at the other end. Rabada is bowling too well to mess with. But India still need runs so Rahul decides to target Coetzee. He goes hard at a fuller delivery outside off and gets a boundary through point.

It really has got tougher out there.

The umpires are in their jackets. The players are in their jumpers.

We didn't see that yesterday. Must be cold out there.

Mo Siraj must have been working on his batting. He looked pretty comfortable facing the first over against Gerald Coetzee bowling at 140 kph, getting seam movement away and testing him with a bouncer.

India look determined to stretch their total. The team management must have given Siraj instructions not to flirt too far outside off stump. That bat never strayed. And his concentration levels were way up.

Revised times for the day's play.

1st session: 10:25 - 12:30

2nd session: 13:10 - 15:35

3rd session: 15:55 - 17:55

All in local time.

It is worth noting that there was significant rain in the lead-up to the match, which resulted in the surface being under the covers for 40-odd hours. The groundstaff may not have had enough time with it to prepare it the way they like

Also, with the weather being all overcast now, batting will be very hard work once again. We saw significant lateral movement yesterday. There was ample bounce as well. The first hour, whenever play resumes, is going to be a doozy. Firdose reports that we'll be underway at 10.25am local time/1.55pm IST

Hello people. How's it going?

Centurion seems to think we have better things to do in our lives.

The cricket still hasn't started.

Which just feels wrong.

Firdose Moonda, who is at the ground, reports that CSA have reported that play has been delayed due to "light rain"

AAAAND THAT'S IT. It's stumps. So here's a snippet of the full report that will be going up on the site soon...

South Africa were poor. India were unlucky. Kagiso Rabada was sublime. KL Rahul was bullish. Thirty-one boundaries were hit. Eight wickets were taken. The stadium was full(ish). The vibe was great. This was Boxing Day with a point to prove.

After 59 action-packed overs in Centurion, the game feels evenly poised if not entirely easy to appraise. The headline, of course, is that South Africa have India at for 208 for 8 and won't feel too dissatisfied with their work before rain took everybody off the field. Well, almost everybody. A bunch of teenagers invaded the pitch and took turns diving onto the covers.

SuperSport Park dished out must-see content. But it wasn't all good. At the start of play, you had a better chance of seeing the ball skulk down leg than stay on target. The hosts were wasting a fresh, green pitch that was offering substantial help along both the X and the Y axes. After lunch, however, Rabada found his rhythm and everything changed.

That five over spell which began with Shreyas Iyer's wicket and peaked with Virat Kohli's met its match in Rahul and his pristine strokeplay. It is clear that at some point in the last few weeks he has raided Ricky Ponting's locker because he was pulling and hooking like a god. The sixes he hit, both square on the off side, were show-stoppers too.

India were put in to bat and they suffered early, forced into 17 false shots in the first 11.1 overs, which is to be expected in seamer-friendly conditions, but, it was enough to yield three big wickets. Rohit Sharma, caught by the one of only two men on the boundary. Shubman Gill, strangled down the leg side. And Yashasvi Jaiswal, nicked off driving on the up.

The remaining 14.5 overs to lunch were just as hard, but this time, India didn't lose any wickets. Their 21 false shots actually secured 16 runs at 4.5 an over, not to mention a couple of lives, with both Iyer and Kohli dropped on 4. That's a sign of how much luck plays a part in this game. India paid for every mistake early on. Then they caught a couple of big breaks and a score that should have been 38 for 5 in the 14th over was 91 for 3 in the 26th.

Then Rabada happened.

And then Rahul happened.

Yet the Rahul who is batting in Centurion is pulling and hooking like peak Ricky Ponting.

Picking the length early. Transferring weight smoothly. Getting the bat over the ball - even when it is above head high - and rolling the wrists on top of it to keep it down on the ground.

Rahul's pull shot is a thing of beauty now.

He gets there with a square driven six over point!

Shots like that should be shoved straight into the vein.

South Africa really haven't cracked how to bowl full on this wicket.

This time its Nandre Burder who offers width and with the tail exposed Rahul was always going to cash in.

In the morning, they went full 31 times and leaked 49 runs including 9 of the 13 boundaries.

Rabada's five-for helped correct that. But the other end isn't quite as reliable.

The trick to bowling full is to aim for middle and off. Keep both of those stumps in play. And then build on that. South Africa have either been too straight, which allowed Kohli and Iyer earlier to pick them off through midwicket and square leg, or too wide, which is allowing Rahul to free the arms.

This is a HIGH-quality innings from KL. He's not been in as much trouble as the rest of his team-mates. And he's kept the scoreboard ticking too. India nearing 200. That's a total their bowlers will appreciate.

Rabada hasn't played any international cricket since an emotional World Cup semi-final exit in November. He wasn't even training all that much. Just preserving his body and trusting that when game day came he'd be ready. And boy was he ever. Bounced out Rohit Sharma. Broke Virat Kohli. Had the holiday crowd chanting his name. It's been a dream day.

One of India's greatest Test victories involved a batter getting battered.

We're nowhere near that territory. And Shardul Thakur is far from Cheteshwar Pujara. But he's shown courage, standing up to fast bowlers coming at him at 140kph on a pitch with a lot of juice in it.

Thakur was hit on the head from Gerald Coetzee in the 44th over. Then he takes a blow on the arm from Kagiso Rabada in the 47th over. In between, he might have been run-out. And now, he's dismissed. Rabada takes him out.

The SA captain pulled up with an injury while fielding in the first session and CSA has offered an update about him. Bavuma was taken for scans at the hospital and they "have revealed a left hamstring strain and he will undergo daily medical evaluations to determine his participation in the match."

And this is not counting two dropped catches. We love Test cricket.

Meanwhile, KL Rahul has 23 runs in 38 balls with a cool 81% control on a pitch with plenty of help for fast bowling, having come in to bat when Kagiso Rabada was practically unplayable.

This has been a weird day's play.

Cuh-lean bowls Shreyas Iyer in the 27th over, the first one after lunch

Has Kohli caught behind

Takes out R Ashwin with extra bounce (from hell).

This spell of Rabada's goes 5-0-13-3.

The crowd chant his name - "Kay-Gee! Kay-Gee! Kay-Gee!" - as he walks off to patrol the outfield. Raises an arm in acknowledgment. We hear he hasn't really been bowling since the end of the ODI World Cup in November. This is really his first hit out.

He's played more than three times the matches of those in front of him, so he's been buh-rilliant for a LOT longer

Rabada is unplayable after lunch.

The ball that cut in took care of Iyer.

The one that goes away takes care of Kohli. And as much as it might seem like the obvious thing to do with him - there is plenty of evidence of him being suspect on the outside edge - but here the India batter was very very careful about what to play and what to leave.

Kohli left 25 of the 64 balls he was out there. In other words, he wasn't interested in putting himself in harm's way. Here he had to. Rabada angled a full length ball into middle stump. Kohli came forward to meet it. It pitched and seamed away, just enough to beat the middle of the bat and take the edge. Shaun Pollock on commentary says it best. "You have to be good enough to nick that."

South Africa have been reluctant to hit the stumps all day.

That's all changed now and first over after lunch Kagiso Rabada bulldozes past Shreyas Iyer's bat and crashes into his castle.

There was a reason why SA weren't happy pitching the ball up. They tried it 31 times in the first session and gave up 49 runs at 9.4 per over including nine of the 13 boundaries. Most of these balls were legsideish and as such were easy put-aways.

Rabada here lands it in the 6-8m area OUTSIDE off stump - that asks more questions of the batter, especially with three slips in play. Iyer answers them all wrongly. He's late bringing the bat down, entirely unprepared for the seam movement. Why? Because seam movement doesn't show until the ball pitches and when the ball pitches only 6m or so in front of you at 140 kph, you really can't account for it.

Three wickets off 17 false shots in the first 11.1 overs

Zero wickets off 21 false shots in the next 14.5 overs. They've even made runs here, 16 at a rate of 4.6

That's a sign of how much luck plays a part in this game. India paid for every mistake early on. Then they benefited from a couple of dropped catches. A score that should have been 38 for 5 in the 14th over is 91 for 3 in 26 at lunch.

Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer are also doing this thing where they're making the most of every time they are able to be in full control of the ball. Since they came together, they've middled it 59 times and gotten 51 runs including six fours and a six.

South Africa tend to find fast bowlers at a rate that evades many other teams and their latest made his debut with much success at SuperSport Park.

Nandre Burger is from Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg and is not a newbie by any means but has bided his time before being rewarded with national selection. He made his first-class debut in the 2016-17 season for Gauteng, in a team that also included one Devon Conway and came to prominence in the Africa T20 Cup in the 2018-19 season. There, he was the leading bowler with 11 wickets at 10.45.

Burger the took 18 wickets in four first-class matches at 22.38 in the 2019-20 summer and has since moved to the Western Cape. This season, he has played three first-class matches, and has taken 12 wickets at 21.50. These numbers may not shoot the lights out but it points to what South Africa's Test coach Shukri Conrad has called "lateral form lines."

Burger was the leading bowler in the domestic one-day cup (14 wickets at 19.78) and was selected in all three national squads to face India. He showed his pace in the T20I he played, took 3-30 in the second ODI and has now impressed on Test debut too.

It's a characteristic of cricket in the Highveld. The ball comes onto the bat and the outfield is lightning, so if its there to be hit, you're sure of full value.

The only problem is that advantage is weighted against a grassy pitch that is offering loads of sideways movement and loads and loads of bounce. That's why 95 of the first 120 balls have been dots.

Meanwhile, Temba Bavuma, chasing a Virat Kohli cover drive, has twinged his left hamstring and is walking off the field. He had only just come back from a right hamstring issue. That's really rough for the SA captain.

TWO IN THREE OVERS FOR BURGER NOW AS GILL FALLS TOO!

Caught down the leg side as the right-hander catches up with a short ball that poses zero threat. That's unlucky. The on-field decision was not-out but Temba Bavuma went for the review and South Africa have their third wicket in the first hour.

India have played only 17 false shots to 67 balls this morning - that's to be expected in seamer-friendly conditions - but it's already led to three wickets. It's almost like every mistake they've made has been punished.

Shreyas Iyer gets a life as he plays a rash drive on the up and away from the body but Marco Jansen drops him at point in the 13th over, just before the first drinks interval. Do India feel like conditions are too tough just to weather them? Have they decided to go for it before the ball with their number comes up? Surely not? Not in the first hour of a Test match.

South Africa haven't really made the best use of the new ball.

It feels weird to say that because they have India at 23 for 2 in the 10th over.

But hear me out.

India have been able to leave more than half (33) of the first 60 balls. That's largely because 48 of them have been on the shorter side. Those won't be hitting the stumps, even if they were bowled at the stumps.

Yashasvi Jaiswal understood that and was just starting to leave the ball on length. Even when Nandre Burger tightened the line, the bounce on this Centurion pitch ensured the ball sailed over his stumps. So the debutant pushed his length up. Impressive stuff. First the control, because he wasn't offering easy leaves. Then the confidence to pitch it up, draw the drive and not care if it might go for four.

SA might well have been reluctant to explore that length because they didn't want to fall behind in the game too soon; didn't want to give boundary balls on a pitch that is definitely helping them.

Burger though was brave. He went full. He demanded the drive. Jaiswal went for it and he was promptly caught behind. Special stuff from a bowler who looks like he already belongs in international cricket.

Shiva Jayaraman takes the floor again

in India and WI while playing pull and hook shot in the last 3 years
2 dismissals from 60 shots, ave 66.5 and 30 balls per dismissal

in England, Australia and South Africa
6 dismissals from 48 shots, ave 15.67 and 8 Balls per dismissal

There may be a case for Rohit to ration that shot depending on the conditions and its strange that he is so averse to it because he became the batter he is in Test cricket right now by committing to a better defensive game. He reined in all of his natural impulses and learnt to leave the ball, especially outside off, and to be content in avoiding risk, in spending time at the crease, even if the runs weren't flowing, in setting the team and his middle-order up to dictate terms later in the game.

Rohit obviously considers the pull shot a way to score quick runs; a way to transfer pressure. But when he fell, South Africa weren't building a lot of it. They are now.

Both Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen have been getting appreciable seam movement. There was an lbw shout against Rohit Sharma in the third over where the ball basically behaved like an offbreak, pitching full outside off and jagging so far past the bat that it would in the end have missed the stumps. Wicked. Three slips, a gully and short leg were crowding the batter.

All that said, India have been precise with their decision making. Rohit couldn't care less about balls outside his off stump. He may as well pull a cigar out every time SA try that line of attack. Completely and utterly uninterested. EXCEPT HE'S GONE NOW.

India lose their captain in the fifth over to a short ball that he pulls to one of only two men on the boundary, at deep fine. Its his strength. He won't put it away. He saw an opportunity to go for it, but Rabada had cramped him a bit, he didn't have full freedom of his hands, so not enough power went into the shot. South Africa were actually wasting the new ball until that point, bowling a touch too short. All of a sudden they've taken out one of India's biggest batting threats. Test cricket. You never ever know what's gonna happen.

It should tell you something about the conditions on offer that the home team has gone in with a four-man pace attack. The spinner's place in the XI has been taken by David Bedingham, who had once given up the idea of playing for South Africa and whose excellence playing in English county cricket had prompted former SA selector Ashwell Prince to go on a bit of a rant about talent drain. Bedingham has been prolific at all the levels he has played at so far as a middle-order batter. He has nearly 6000 first-class runs at an average of 49.5 and a strike rate of 64. Sounds like a guy you want to see back in the pavilion as soon as possible if you're an India fan.

R Ashwin, meanwhile, steps in to play only his 10th away Test match since the start of 2021. India have played 17 of those in that time, including two WTC finals and he wasn't in the XIs for either of those because the conditions weren't right to play two spinners and he falls behind Jadeja because of Jadeja's superior batting ability. Good chance for Ashwin to address that perception here because lower middle order runs will be crucial. South Africa is not a nice place for top-order batters so they may not always be able to put up a bunch of runs; its only when the ball gets softer that batting becomes easier so those at No. 4, 5, 6 and 7 will need to be prepared to put in a shift.

Shiva Jayaraman from our underground stats bunker: Ashwin doesn't have a bad record at Centurion; took 5/410 and 2/132 in '18 and '21 (7 wickets at 35.1); other spinners have taken 24 wickets at 70.0 in the last ten years here

Temba Bavuma justifies the decision by pointing out how the pitch has been under the covers for a very long time - we hear 40 hours to protect it from the rain, but not the sweating that happened thereafter which is the reason for the delayed start. Nandre Burger and David Bedingham will make their debut while Dean Elgar is playing his final Test series.

"Honestly, I was not too sure. So in times like this, it's better to lose the toss," says Rohit Sharma, the India captain. Big news is that Ravindra Jadeja is out with a neck spasm and R Ashwin has taken his place

South Africa: 1 Dean Elgar, 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Tony de Zorzi, 4 Temba Bavuma (capt), 5 Keegan Petersen, 6 David Bedingham, 7 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Gerald Coetzee, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Nandre Burger

India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Shreyas Iyer, 6 KL Rahul (wk), 7 R Ashwin, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Prasidh Krishna, 11 Mohammed Siraj

And it is less than half an hour away. The toss will come in before that. First ball at 10.30 am SA time/2pm IST.

Prasidh Krishna has earned his first India Test cap. It is a sign that the team management understands they need a tall bowler capable to hitting high on the bat to succeed in these conditions. It is a lesson they learned when they were last here, leading 1-0 but then losing 2-1, because SA had a battery of quicks better equipped to produce false shots.

So now, India are trying to even the odds by bringing in a tall fast bowler, placing faith in his potential to mimic SA's attack over his numbers because Krishna has played only 12 first-class games. And why are they doing that? Because this SA attack has ruled over Centurion. So copying them is essentially the smart thing to do.

We also did put him to work tho. He didn't mind. Cool guy.