After holding the visitors’ innings together with 70* off 105 balls on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Centurion on Tuesday, December 26, Team India batting coach Vikram Rathour praised KL Rahul as the team’s crisis man.
India scored 208/8 in 59 overs to conclude the first day of the Test match. The Proteas won the toss and asked India to bat first after the rain caused a postponed start. In difficult batting conditions, the visitors collapsed to 24/3. Rahul’s flawless half-century, though, kept the innings together.
After the first day of play, Vikram Rathour praised the Indian batter at a press conference, saying:
“Rahul is turning out to be man of crisis for us. Every time, there are tough situations, he is the guy who handles it well for us. Nothing special, he was clear with his game plans, defended the right balls, attacked the right ones.”
Vikram Rathour
Virat Kohli (38 off 64) and Shreyas Iyer (31 off 50) contributed 68 runs for the fourth wicket as India lost three early wickets. Kagiso Rabada (5/44), nevertheless, removed both batsmen.
Rahul did a splendid job of supporting the innings. His excellent performance comprised of 10 fours and two sixes. Alongside Shardul Thakur, who scored a useful 24 runs off 33, he contributed to a beneficial 43-run partnership for the seventh wicket.
“I feel they used it as a tactic” – Vikram Rathour on South Africa pacers bowling short balls down leg
Several short balls were delivered by South African pacers with a leg slip in place. They tried something similar in 2021–2022 during their last visit by India, and they had some success. Rathour acknowledged that the Proteas employed that strategy once again.
“Not very often but in last series also there were 5-6 dismissals down leg side. At lunch, they bowled 65 balls down leg, if they bowled outside off, whether they would have got same success, that’s debatable. Because of tennis ball like spongy bounce, it was a difficult delivery to control as you saw how (Shubman) Gill got out. I feel they used it as a tactic.”
Vikram Rathour
Yashasvi Jaiswal (17) stole a delivery in the channel, and Shubman Gill (2) gloved a rising delivery from Nandre Burger down the leg side, while Indian captain Rohit Sharma (5) succumbed to the hook shot.