“It swung away late” - Kagiso Rabada reflects on the delivery that dismissed Virat Kohli on Day 1 of Centurion Test

South African pacer Kagiso Rabada stated that the ball with which he dismissed Virat Kohli on Day 1 of the Centurion Test swung late, forcing the star Indian batter to nick it. According to the fast bowler, until his dismissal, Kohli was covering the swing well even though he played and missed quite a few balls.

The battle between Rabada and Kohli has been touted as one of the big contests in the India-South Africa Test series. The South African fast bowler won round one, dismissing the Indian batter for 38 off 64 balls on Tuesday, December 26.

Rabada got a delivery to angle in and curve away late. Kohli, who was committed to playing the original angle of the ball, could only edge the delivery behind the wickets.

Reflecting on the big scalp, the 28-year-old said after the end of the first day’s play:

“It swung away late. For some reason, most of the times he played and missed, he covered the channel. With him, you always need to be on. I was glad that I could get that fainty (faint edge).”

Rabada went on to finish with a five-wicket haul, his 14th in Test cricket. The right-arm pacer also dismissed Indian captain Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Shardul Thakur.

Speaking about his excellent effort, the pacer admitted that it was his day.

“(Such) days happen in cricket. This was my day. Pretty happy with the way I bowled. India have quite a bit of experience and if anyone told us that it will be 208 for 8, we would have taken that before the game.”

While Rabada starred for South Africa, KL Rahul anchored India’s innings. He scored an unbeaten 70 off 105 balls, a knock which featured 10 fours and two sixes.

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“The two left-armers were swinging the ball” - Rabada on leg stump tactics

South Africa bowled 65 deliveries on the leg stump channel with a leg slip in place in the opening session of the Centurion Test. Rabada admitted that it was a tactic they wanted to use with two left-armers swinging the ball.

“The two left-armers [Nandre Burger and Marco Jansen] were in attack and were swinging the ball in. It seemed like a tactic after lunch. It was Temba (Bavuma), who had a gut feel about how to get wicket and did feel logical to keep leg slip. We almost got Virat at square leg. After lunch, it was again a gut feel thing, after lunch, we changed tactics,” he said.

While Rabada starred with a five-fer on Day 1, Test debutant Burger also impressed with figures of 2/50.