Centurion, South Africa

Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test between India and South Africa saw the hosts dealt a huge blow after skipper Temba Bavuma was seen limping off the field. It is reported that Bavuma is suffering from a hamstring issue which could be bad news considering it is just Day 1 of the match. Despite the Bavuma injury issue, the Proteas have been rock-solid as they had India tottering at 176/7 at Tea with Kagiso Rabada scalping five wickets.

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Bavuma hamstring issue

Before the fifth ball of the 20th over, Bavuma was attended by physios and was later seen limping off the field. It is initially thought that Bavuma has pulled his hamstring which could result in him missing the rest of the match. Hamstring issues generally have lengthy time out for players as it takes time to recover. If this is the case, Bavuma could be ruled out of the entire series while his participation in the remainder of the first Test remains in doubt.

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Rabada on fire

Meanwhile, the hosts had an excellent first two sessions of Day 1 as they established complete dominance after Rabada’s masterclass show with the ball. India were 24/3 in the first session after skipper Rohit Sharma (5), Yashasvi Jaiswal (17) and Shubman Gill (2) fell in quick succession. Nandre Burger was the architect-in-chief of India’s downfall as he got the better of Gill and Jaiswal.

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The visitors then built a partnership of 68 runs as Shreyas Iyer (31) and Virat Kohli (38) helped India get back in the contest. However, in the second session, Rabada again showed his class to get the better of Iyer putting India on the back foot on 92/4.

Ravichandran Ashwin (8) and Shardul Thakur (24) then followed soon as India lost their way against the exceptional South African star Rabada. At the time of writing at Tea on Day 1 India were 176/7 with KL Rahul (39) and Jasprit Bumrah (0) in the middle.