India vs South Africa: Rohit Sharma Becomes Kagiso Rabada's Bunny In Test Cricket

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The India vs South Africa 1st Test didn't go as per plan on the third day as skipper Rohit Sharma was back to the pavilion following an eight-ball duck in response to hosts 408 all out at the SuperSports Park in Centurion on Thursday (December 28).

Rohit Sharma was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada in the third over of the second innings as the South African pacer pitched up a delivery, angling the ball into the middle stump to leave the Indian captain baffled.

This was the second time Rabada dismissed Rohit Sharma in the Test while getting him the seventh time in 11 innings. He has now dismissed Rohit Sharma 13 times in international cricket while becoming the seventh bowler to take 500 international wickets. Rohit Sharma overall averages just 14.22 in Test cricket in South African soil.

Apart from him, veteran New Zealand pacer Tim Southee has dismissed Rohit Sharma 12 times while the Sri Lanka seam all-rounder has picked the wicket of the Indian captain 10 times.

Kagiso Rabada has accelerated to 286 scalps at an average of more than 22 with his six wickets taken thus far in this encounter. He has taken 179 wickets at home. In home games, his average is just over 19.

Rabada upset India with a five-wicket haul in the opening innings. Notably, against India, this was his first fifer. On Day 1, Rabada was the best bowler for South Africa. In 17 overs, he claimed five wickets for 44 runs, three of which were maidens. Rabada bowled 20 overs and finished the first innings with 5/59. India was folded for 245 minutes.

Rabada became the fifth bowler from South Africa to take fifty or more wickets in a Test match at an average of more than twenty-two. The 28-year-old trails only Shaun Pollock (52) and Dale Steyn (65), Morne Morkel (58), and Alan Donald (57).
In the India-South Africa series, Rabada became the ninth bowler to reach 50 Test wickets.