India’s opening batsman Mayank Agarwal, who scored a stunning hundred and a half-century in the previous Test match against New Zealand in Mumbai, continued with his red-hot form in South Africa.
After winning the toss, the Indian Test skipper, Virat Kohli decided to bat first, raising a lot of eyebrows at his decision due to the overcast conditions. Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul joined hands and gave a much-needed headstart to the team as they stitched together an 80-run stand on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.
That will be Tea on Day 1 of the 1st Test.
KL Rahul (68*) and Virat Kohli (19*) have stitched a 40*-run partnership. Join us for the final session after the Tea break.
Scorecard – https://t.co/eoM8MqSQgO #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/g0ajtjAS5P
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 26, 2021
While Mayank started hitting the ball quickly and was hitting every ball that was in his zone, on the other hand, KL Rahul took time to adjust on the field. Soon, Mayank and Rahul added 117 runs for the first wicket as they amassed a 100-run partnership in South Africa. But unfortunately, Mayank’s innings soon came to an end in the 41st over as Lungi Ngidi managed to trap him in front of the stumps.
The replays showed that the ball hit the top of the leg stump but it also looked as if it was going down the leg side. His dismissal started a debate as not many experts and pundits agreed with the ball tracking.
After the end of the day, Mayank Agarwal was asked about his dismissal. Responding to this, Mayank came up with a witty response to the incident. Mayank decided not to answer the question and also came up with a hilarious response. He said:
“I am not allowed to give my opinion and so I want to leave it at that. Otherwise, I will be in bad books and my money (match fee) could be docked.”
Meanwhile, Rahul and Mayank became the third Indian opening pair in Indian Test history to stitch a 100-run stand in South Africa, joining the likes of Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer, who had scored 153 runs in the Cape Town Test in 2007, and Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, who added 137 in a Test in Centurion in 2010.
