Continuing his fine form, stand-in captain KL Rahul hit a half-century but fell right after as India lost two more wickets before tea-break on the first day of the second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg. When the session ended, India posted 146/5 in 51 overs, with Ravichandran Ashwin (24*) and Rishabh Pant (13*) the two unbeaten batsmen.
The season began with Rahul and Hanuma Vihari opening the innings for India. However, a brilliant catch from Rasi van der Dussen at short leg as Vihari lobbed one in the short leg area off Kagiso Rabada and ended his innings early on 20.
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Meanwhile, Rahul continued to bat with intent, producing a superb drive and scoring a half-century in his first innings as India captain. However, the short delivery proved to be his undoing as he caught a top-edge off Marco Jensen brilliantly by Rabada in the deep for 50.
With half their batsmen in the dressing room, Ashwin and Pant have put on 30 runs so far to save the innings from free-fall, but the pair have finished their job on an uneven bouncy pitch.
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Earlier, after India won the toss and elected to bat, skipper Virat Kohli was ruled out due to a back spasm. The opening pair of Rahul and Mayank Agarwal got off to a good start and came out safely in the first hour of the game before the drinks-break.
South Africa launched a four-pronged fast attack in hopes of leveling the three-match series. And it was left-hander Jensen, playing in his second Test, who found the breakthrough when he lured Agarwal to strike the out-of-delivery and drove him to the wicketkeeper for 26.
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It brought Cheteshwar Pujara under pressure in the middle and he survived a few close calls before finally running out of luck when he caught Duane Olivier in the street. And Olivier struck the next ball as well, this time to trouble India by dismissing Ajinkya Rahane for a golden duck.
Brief scores: India 146/5 (KL Rahul 50; Marco Jensen 2/18, Duane Olivier 2/47) vs South Africa on Day 1 at tea
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