South Africa Vs India, 1st Test Day 2: Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj Hunt In Pairs But Dean Elgar Stands Firm; RSA - 256/5 (66 Overs); IND - 245 - As It Happened

Hello and welcome to RSA vs IND, 1st Test, Day 2, India's tour of South Africa 2023-24, Match Blog. A Kagiso Rabada masterclass left the Men in Blue fighting for their lives by the end of a rain-hit Day 1 at Centurion. Following a less-than-impressive performance by the Indian top-order, KL Rahul took the reigns in his hands and led the visitors past the 200-run mark; Rahul was batting on 70 when play closed on the first day of the first Test. Day 2 resumed with a fiery start by KL Rahul. The Proteas quickly wrapped up what remained of the Indian batting but by then KL Rahul completed his century and took the score to 245 all out. Dean Elgar and David Bendingham's knock helped South Africa take 11 runs lead at the end of the day's play. Check the highlights of Day 2 of the first RSA Vs IND Test match here (Scorecard | Streaming | Day 1 Report | Full Coverage)

That's all from our side!

Brief Score: RSA - 256/5 (66)
Dean Elgar - 140* (211),  David Bendingham - 56 (87)  |  Jasprit Bumrah: (16-3-48-2)

9:10 PM: RSA - 256/5 (66) - Stumps 
Bad lights stopped the play earlier than expected. Dean Elgar remained unbeaten on 140 runs and Marco Jansen is with him on 3 runs not out. A day clearly in favour of South Africa with Elgar's century and David Bedingham's fabulous fifty on debut. India had a few things to cherish at the end, but bad lights played spoilsport. 

8:59 PM: RSA - 256/5 (60-66 Overs Highlights)
India bowlers dominated this phase and got two wickets. Mohammed Siraj broke the partnership between Elgar and Bendingham with a beauty of delivery. Prasidh Krishna also removed the keeper-batter Kyle Verreynne as his first Test wicket. The match stopped due to bad lights. Dean Elgar is still there unbeaten on 140 runs.

8:45 PM: Siraj, Krishna Hunt In Pair!
Mohammed Siraj broke the partnership between Dean Elgar and David Bedingham with an inswinger that left Bedingham amazed and bowled him. The ball went through the bat and pad and struck the woods. Kyle Verreynne was also dismissed soon with Prasidh Krishna's delivery that took the edge and went directly to KL Rahul at the back. 

IND - 252/5 (63)

8:20 PM: RSA - 241/3 (50-59 Overs Highlights)
Dean Elgar and David Bedingham started from where they left at the tea break. Debutant Bedingham completed his half-century in the first inning of his Test career and is still moving forward to the maiden Test century. Elgar, after scoring his 14th Test century, looked more determined and played the shots with more freedom. With South Africa trailing by just four runs, Indian bowlers need to get another breakthrough. 

7:10 PM: RSA - 194/3 (49)  -  Tea Break
Veteran South African batter, who announced earlier that he would retire from international cricket after the Test series against India, scored his 14th century in Test cricket. After chasing India's 245 runs in the first inning, Elgar has hit 21 boundaries so far in his 115-run inning. David Bedingham was unbeaten on 32 runs with him at the crease after the Umpires called for a tea break.

7:00 PM: Cricket Great Sachin Tendulkar Hails KL Rahul 

6:58 PM: Dean Elgar Test Record Stats
Elgar now has Test hundreds in each of the seven South African venues where he has played at least one Test. Herschelle Gibbs is the only other player in South Africa to score a century in seven separate places (Gibbs played in eight venues but did not score in East London).

6:40 PM: RSA - 174/3 (33-43 Overs Highlights)
Dean Elgar, who is going to retire from international cricket scored his 14th Test hundred on Day 2. David Bedingham also supported him well. Both batters played on the merit of the balls and kept scoring runs with a good strike rate. Elgar has hit 20 fours in his inning and Bendingham has scored two fours and a six in his 22-run inning so far. Indian bowlers were unable to find any way to stop Elgar. He looked determined and played a gritty knock on a surface which was helping the bowlers at the start.

5:58 PM: RSA - 125/3 (26-32 Overs Highlights)
Jasprit Bumrah was introduced again into the attack and he first removed set batter Tony de Zorzi by getting him caught in the third slip by Yashasvi Jaiswal. Bumrah broke the 93-run partnership for the second wicket between Zorzi and Elgar. Then Keegan Petersen was the next batter whom Bumrah bowled for just 2 runs. This phase came out to be good for India as Bumrah bowled fiercely and kept hitting the good areas.

5:21 PM: RSA - 95/1 (17-25 Overs Highlights)
Indian bowlers produced a series of good overs but Tony de Zorzi and retiring Dean Elgar showed immense command of the ball and played their shots nicely. They took their time and added runs. They played with the merit of the ball and kept scoring runs. Dean Elgar scored his 24th fifty and is still looking in fine touch. 

4:30 PM: Action Resumes After Lunch
Dean Elgar and Tony de Zorzi start the batting after the lunch break in Centurion. Indian bowlers are looking desperate for another breakthrough but the results are the same.

3:59 PM: RSA - 49/1 (7-16 Overs Highlights)
Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah continued to hit the right lengths and create problems for Dean Elgar and Tony De Zorzi, but both batters found their way out to score runs and played patiently. Debutant Prasidh Krishna was introduced in the 13th over and he also bowled some good deliveries but was unable to bring a breakthrough. Zorzi looked in control and hit boundaries whenever any bad ball came to him. Shardul Thakur and Krishna are in the attack now.

3:20 PM: RSA - 19/1 (0-6 Overs Highlights)
South Africa started with Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar and both looked into problems facing the pace attack of Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah. Markram hit a boundary in the first over of Siraj's last delivery and he took his revenge in his next over by getting him caught behind. Tony de Zorzi replaced him at the crease. 

3:10 PM: Siraj Gets Markram!
After stressing Aiden Markram with the multiple out-swinger deliveries, Mohammed Siraj finally got his wicket on the same delivery. Markram tried to play that but it went outside with the angle. India got their first breakthrough.

RSA - 11/1 (4)

2:50 PM: South Africa Start Batting
After restricting India to 245 all out, South Africa started their first innings with stand-in captain Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram at the crease. Jasprit Bumrah opened the bowling attack for India. Just one run from the first over.

IND - 1/0 (1)

Innings Break!

Brief Score: IND - 245/10 (67.4 Overs)
KL Rahul - 101 (137),  Virat Kohli - 38 (64)  |  Kagiso Rabad: (20-4-59-5)

2:42 PM: KL Rahul Falls After Century!
Nandre Burger was introduced to the attack and he delivered with his fourth delivery. An inswinging delivery that bamboozled Rahul's wickets left him amazed with the turn. Rahul departed after playing an amazing knock of 101 runs.

2:34 PM: KL Rahul Completes Century!
KL Rahul completed his century in style with a six. Mohammed Siraj was caught behind on the first delivery and Prasidh Krishna, the last man came to crease. He took a single on byes and KL Rahul came on strike. With the last delivery of the over, he didn't tried to take a single and remain on strike. He went for a big shot and completed his century with a six.

IND - 245/9 (66)

2:26 PM: IND - 238/8 (60-65 Overs Highlights)
KL Rahul and Mohammed Siraj started from where they left yesterday and Rahul has played comparatively faster. Siraj played the role of a catalyst and Rahul kept scoring the boundaries in almost every over. Coetzee started the attack with a tight first over of Day 2 and Kagiso Rabada also bowled a maiden over after that. Rahul shifted gears and tried to score as many runs as possible thereafter.

2:10 PM: Day 2 Action Starts!
Gerald Coetzee started the bowling attack with Mohammed Siraj on strike. Siraj played all the deliveries patiently and added two runs from the over.

1:50 PM: Day 2 Action To Start In 10 Minutes
Good news from Centurion! The covers are off the ground and the weather is a little pleasant. The drizzle is gone and it is a shining sky in the Centurion. The match officials say the game will start at 2:00 PM IST.

1:10 PM: Rain Delays Start Of Day 2
And the rain has again interrupted the match. With 20 minutes left to start the play of Day 2, rain again played spoilsport and covers are all over the pitch and some parts of the ground.

12:50 PM: Weather Update 
It is a cold morning in Centurion, with the temperature steady at 14 degrees Celsius at the time of writing. Clouds are looming ominously over the arena in which India will resume their bout with South Africa in less than 45 minutes, but Accuweather predicts no chances of rain at the moment. 

12:30 PM: State of Play
India left play on Day 1 with 208 runs on the board for the loss of eight wickets. KL Rahul persisted till Stumps on the first day after the rest of the Indian top and middle-order faced a disparaging collapse and was accompanied by Mohammed Siraj last on the crease; the pair will resume batting on Day 2. 

South African pacer Kagiso Rabada, meanwhile, claimed five wickets, including Virat Kohli, in spite of several rain delays. The delays caused by the weather on Day 1 mean that Day 2 might have to accommodate a few extra overs, should rain permits. 

12:00 PM: Preview! 

Squads

India’s squad for Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Abhimanyu Easwaran, KS Bharat (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna.

South Africa Test squad: Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Dean Elgar, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (wk).