‘Indian pace attack is difficult to play in nets’ - KL Rahul in awe of team's seamers after historic win in Centurion

India won the Boxing Day Test on the fifth day by 113 runs as the Indian bowlers bundled out South Africa for a score of 191 runs in the second innings. KL Rahul won the player of the match award for being the highest scorer in the match, he made a century in the first innings and became only the second Indian opener to achieve this feat in South Africa. Rahul’s ton was the difference between both the teams’ scores in the first innings as the Indian team scored 327 runs of which 123 runs came from Rahul’s bat and South Africa made 197 runs.

Indian pacers were at their level best as they managed to share 18 wickets among themselves and the remaining two wickets were picked by Ravichandran Ashwin in the second innings. Mohammed Shami was the best among all the four pacers as he finished with a total of eight wickets in the match, including a fifer in the first innings. Jasprit Bumrah also had a great game as he picked five wickets in total and dismissed South African skipper, Dean Elgar, in both innings.

After the match, Rahul mentioned that this is the best batch of Indian pacers and is difficult to pick in the nets as well. He further stated that the pacers scare the Indian batters in the nets and called the Indian team lucky to have such a brutal force of pace attack.

“Indian pace attack is difficult to play in nets, especially for me and they scare us a lot in nets – we are lucky to have this bowling attack,” KL Rahul said in the post-match press conference.

The Indian team managed to breach the fortresses of Gabba and Centurion in the same year

The year 2021 started for the Indian team with the Sydney Test, which ended in a draw after Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari’s partnership, which lasted for over 42 overs. The focus then shifted to Brisbane where Australia had not lost a Test match since 1988. India changed the course of history after chasing down a target of 328 runs, with Rishabh Pant scoring 89 not out in the second innings.

When India came to Centurion, a lot was said regarding South Africa’s supremacy here. South Africa had lost only a single game here since January 2001, and India lost both the last two encounters. However, the Indian pacers never looked going off-beat in Centurion, and Rahul’s century in the first innings ensured that the bowlers have enough to defend in the fourth innings. The Indian team became only the third team after England and Australia to win a Test match in Centurion since 1995.