IND vs SA: KL Rahul becomes first skipper in more than 30 years to achieve unique feat

KL Rahul on Monday became the 34th cricket captain to lead the Indian team in the Test format of the game, as he walked out for the toss ahead of the second match of the three-match India vs South Africa Test series on Monday. Skipper Virat Kohli suffered back spasms ahead of the match, which led to his deputy in the series, Rahul making his captaincy debut for India. Meanwhile, Rahul also enrolled his name in an elite list of skippers by leading India in the ongoing Test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

KL Rahul joins Sunil Gavaskar, Mohammad Azharuddin in elite list of Indian skippers-

The Johannesburg Test will be the first time KL Rahul is leading the national side in any format. In the process, Rahul became the first Indian skipper since Mohammad Azharuddin in 1990 to lead the national side in a Test match before making his captaincy debut in the limited-over format of the game. Some of the other Indian skippers who features on the unique list include, Sunil Gavaskar, BS Bedi, Ajit Wadekar among others.

What did KL Rahul say after winning the toss on his captaincy debut?

After winning the toss on Monday, KL Rahul expressed his thoughts on leading the national side. Speaking to Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the match, Rahul said that every Indian player dreams of leading the country and he feels honoured for the challenge lying ahead of him. He hoped the team earns a couple of victories in South Africa and continue doing so in the road ahead. Following the conclusion of the Test series, Rahul will lead India in the three-match ODI series as well. India’s limited over skipper Rohit Sharma was earlier slated to join the team for the ODI series, but after his unavailability owing to a hamstring injury was confirmed, Rahul was named the skipper of the ODI team against the Proteas. 

India post a first-innings total of 202 runs at Johannesburg-

On the match front, India was restricted on a total of 202 runs in the first innings of the Johannesburg Test. Skipper Rahul scored a maximum of 50 runs for India, Ravichandran Ashwin displayed his all-round capabilities by striking 46 runs off 50 balls. Meanwhile, Marco Jansen picked up the maximum of four wickets for the Proteas while Kagiso Rabada and Duanne Olivier dismissed three batters each. At the time of writing this article, South Africa find themselves at 35/1 after 16.5 overs of play in their first batting innings, having lost the wicket of Aiden Markram on the individual score of seven runs.

(Image: AP)