India were bowled out for 174 in their second innings, giving a target of 305 runs to South Africa to win the first Test of the series. Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who was out for 18 in the second innings, ended the second straight year without a century. The last time the Indian captain scored a century was way back in 2019 when he scored 136 against Bangladesh in the pink-ball day and night Test match against Bangladesh at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. Mohammed Shami, who became only the fifth Indian pacer to take 200 wickets in Test, on Wednesday claimed his first wicket in the second innings in the very first over as he dismissed Aiden Markram for one.
Earlier, India were bowled out for 174 in their second innings, taking a lead of 304 runs. Rishabh Pant was the top scorer with a knock of 34. Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen shared four wickets each. Lungi Ngidi picked up two wickets.
South Africa were bowled out for 197 in their first innings, trailing India by 130 runs. The hosts were reduced to 1-1 in the second over of their second innings after Mohammed Shami made no mistake in dislodging the stumps of Markram.
There’s a forecast for rain in Centurion with the wicket helping fast bowlers. Virat Kohli will hope that his bowlers extract the bounce from the pitch to bowl South Africa out cheaply and take a 1-0 lead in the series before the match is interrupted by rains.
Virat Kohli has made 27 centuries in 97 Test matches, scoring 7801 runs. The Indian skipper has also hit 43 centuries in 254 ODI, scoring 12169 runs in total.