Rahul scored 123 and 23 runs in the first Test to win Player of the Match award in Centurion.
Indian batter KL Rahul said that 2021 has been a wonderful year for India, especially in Test cricket, and he believes that this year will go down as one of the greatest years in Indian cricket history.
His remarks came after Team India breached the Centurion fortress, winning the Boxing Day Test by 113 runs against South Africa on Thursday (December 30), becoming the first Asian nation to do so. With the win, India took a 1-0 lead in the three-match Test series in South Africa.
Earlier this year, an India team missing the majority of first-choice players breached the fortress at Gabba, Brisbane to win a memorable Test series in Australia and then recorded remarkable Test victories at Lord's and the Oval against England.
Rahul said at the post-match press conference: “It's a super special year for team India. The kind of achievements that we have gotten this year has been truly special. I think it will go down as one of the greatest years in Indian cricket history. It has taken a lot of hard work and discipline. We have worked really hard as a team for a few years.”
India’s stand-in vice-captain further credited the great dressing room atmosphere for India’s remarkable performance.
He further mentioned, “Yes, the dressing room atmosphere is amazing at the moment. It is a great Test victory. No Asian team has come here and won in Centurion and (it speaks of) the kind of work we have put in, in the last two weeks leading up to this Test match. We worked really hard as a team and we really had a lot of fun at training and at practice.”
Rahul has called it a complete team performance in Centurion and said it was great to have a winning start in South Africa, where they haven’t yet won a Test series.
He signed off by saying, “To go out there in the first game of the series and put up a performance like that which is a complete team performance, it makes us happy. We can enjoy this victory for a day and get back to training and start focussing on the next Test match.”
Notably, the second Test will be held in Johannesburg from January 3, 2022.
(With PTI Inputs)