The second Test between India and South Africa of the 3-match Freedom Trophy began at the MCA Stadium in Pune. India won the first Test in Vizag by 203 runs and one of the heroes with the bat in that match continued his good work here as well.
Faf du Plessis lost his 9th toss in a row in the Asian subcontinent, as Kohli decided to bat first. Both teams made one change each as South Africa brought in Anrich Nortje for his Test debut in place od Dane Piedt, while India included Umesh Yadav for Hanuma Vihari.
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Kagiso Rabada struck first blow for Proteas, as he had Rohit Sharma caught by De Kock for 14 runs. But then Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara added 138 runs for the second wicket. Pujara fell just before lunch for 58, caught by Du Plessis off Rabada.
But Mayank Agarwal continued his good run of form, to hit his second hundred of the series and career. He made 108 in 195 balls with 2 sixes and 16 fours, before falling to Rabada-Du Plessis combo. Virat Kohli started off cautiously and Rahane continued in a similar vein as the pitch gave some help to the bowlers.
The stumps were called early by the umpires due to fading light and India finished on 273/3 with Virat Kohli unbeaten on 63 with 10 fours and Rahane on 18*. Kagiso Rabada picked all the three wickets to fall and ended the day with figures of 3/48 in 18.1 overs.
The Cricket fraternity was amazed at the way young Mayank played despite the challenges of the pitch and took to Twitter to applaud his innings.
Here are some tweets:
