India vs South Africa Highlights 1st Test Day 2: Play called off due to rain

Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s coverage of Day 2 of the first Test between India and South Africa at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.

STUMPS: The inevitable has happened. Play has been called off. Play will resume at 1:30 PM IST and we will make up half an hour at the end of day’s play, weather willing of course. Thanks for joining us. Good night.

17:23: Rain relents at Centurion for now.

17:01: In case you were wondering what’s up at Centurion – it is still raining.

16:04: The covers are back on and so is the rain

15:46: The covers are off. Inspection at 4:15 PM.

15:21: It has stopped raining in Centurion for now.

14:56: It had stopped raining briefly but the showers are back – that kind of a day.

14:50: 10 minutes before the scheduled inspection, the rain is back!

There will be an inspection at 3:00 PM IST. Also an update on Duanne Olivier, who wasn’t picked for this Test because he is still recovering from illness and the think tank had doubts over his fitness.

14:17: Early lunch taken. The first session has been washed out.

14:06: It has stopped raining and is brighter. No update on an inspection yet.

13:40: It had stopped raining and the super soppers were out and about. But the rains have returned once again. No update on inspection time yet.

13:07: It is drizzling in Centurion. We are unlikely to start on time.

Here’s how Day 1 unfolded – REPORT

India 11: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

South Africa 11: Dean Elgar(c), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock(w), Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngid

Toss: India wins toss, opts to bat

Kohli: We will bat first. Runs on the board playing away home has been our strength. The pitch tends to quicken up here on Day 2-3. Our success away from home started from the series we played here last time. Very challenging place to play. South African unit always strong and they know the conditions. The prep has been wonderful. Quite lucky to get the centre-wicket practice. Siraj, Shami, Bumrah, Ashwin and Thakur is the all-rounder.

Elgar: Nice and relaxed and looking forward to what is going to be a brilliant Test series. We had a good week’s camp in Johannesburg. We are prepared as best as we could. Debutant in Marco Jansen. Tall left-arm bowler. Mulder as all-rounder. Kesh is our spinner. KG, Lungi and Marco are the pacers

TOSS TIME!

Stats Preview

Pant needs 3 dismissals to become fastest Indian to 100 wicketkeeper dismissals in Tests.
Mohammad Shami needs 5 wickets to complete 200 Test wickets.
Virat Kohli needs 2 catches to complete 100 Test catches. Ajinkya Rahane is 3 away from the milestone.
Duanne Olivier needs 2 wickets to become third fastest South African to 50 Test wickets
Ravichandran Ashwin needs 7 wickets to surpass Kapil Dev’s tally to become India’s second-highest Test wicket-taker.

Squads

India squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj.

Standby Players: Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla.

South Africa squad: Dean Elgar (Captain), Temba Bavuma (vc), Quinton de Kock (wk), Kagiso Rabada, Sarel Erwee, Beuran Hendricks, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen , Rassie van der Dussen , Kyle Verreynne , Marco Jansen , Glenton Stuurman , Prenelan Subrayen , Sisanda Magala, Ryan Rickelton, Duanne Olivier

WHERE TO WATCH IND VS SA FIRST TEST LIVE?

The first Test between India and South Africa will be shown LIVE on the Star Sports Network and streamed online on Hotstar from 1.30 pm IST.

Source link