Kagiso Rabada’s five-for helped South Africa reduce India to 208/8 on Day 1 of the 1st Test in Centurion.

The pitch was under covers until the morning of the Test match. This caused some moisture in the pitch, with the heavy roller in the morning not having much effect on the surface. 

SA won the toss and opted to bowl first and the movement off the pitch was evident from the get-go. 

The opening bowlers kept their lines consistent and allowed the ball to produce the natural variation. They needed to tighten their lengths to find perfection. 

A surprise delivery down leg drew Sharma in for his signature pull-shot and he found debutant Nandre Burger on the boundary down at fine-leg. SA got the early wicket they desired India losing their first with 13 runs on the board. 

Nandre Burger bowled excellently in his first two overs, utilizing wobble which seemed to create doubt in the minds of the batters. He did find the perfect lines and lengths. 

Four balls into his second over, his consistency paid off when he found the edge of Jaiswal for 17 and with that his maiden Test wicket. 

Burger got another wicket, this time with a down-leg delivery nicking his glove to the keeper. India were 23-3. 

Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer batted solidly despite both being dropped early in their innings and managed to take India to 91-3 at lunch on day 1. 

South Africa continued to strike mainly thanks to Kagiso Rabada who reached his five-for before tea. His spell included the prized wicket of Virat Kohli. 

India took a score of 176-7 into tea. 

KL Rahul kept his team in the game with his 70 before bad light stopped play with India on 208/8.