Day 1 of the first Test between India and South Africa started off wonderfully for the visitors. Having won the toss, Indian captain Virat Kohli opted to bat first and their openers Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul knew just what to do. Their brilliant opening partnership gave India a blistering start and they put together over 100 runs on the scoreboard.
The 100 runs partnership included a brilliant fifty by Mayank Agarwal. The two could have gone on and one like this had it not been for South African pacer Lungi Ngidi. The pacer who had caused troubles for the Indian batsmen the last time they visited South Africa has seemingly started off this series with the same tone he concluded the last series.
After breaking the dangerous partnership of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, Lungi Ngidi picked up the big wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara on the very next delivery, who departed for a Golden duck. In this way Ngidi transformed the dynamics of the game with just one good over.
With this, Cheteshwar Pujara’s awful run in Test cricket continues. He has 3 Ducks, 5 single digit scores and 2 fifties in his last 17 innings which is downright poor. Pujara will have to improve his performance if he wants to cement his position in the team because as it now stands, Shreyas Iyer and Hanuma Vihari are eagerly awaiting to replace him in the playing XI.