WATCH: KL Rahul's calm response to frustrated Marco Jansen during 1st Test between India and South Africa

The First Test of the series between India and South Africa at the Supersport Park in Centurion completely belongs to the Proteas. The Indians are currently on 208-8 after day 1 with only KL Rahul steadying the innings after a major batting collapse. The South African pace attack was enough to make it tough for the Indian batters to get going. Playing with four pacers and barely any spin option has proved to be effective on this surface which has a lot of grass giving the bowlers extra bounce and seam. This has made the chances of India to come back in this match slim.

The South African bowlers were on the money yesterday looking threatening from the start. The spell of Kagiso Rabada was enough to get the India batters in trouble. His spell also included big wickets of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Along with Rabada, Nandre Burger was also looking good as he chipped in with a couple and Marco Jansen despite being slightly expensive also chipped in with a wicket as well. However, there were still some frustrating moments for the tall lanky pacer, who was looking off-colour in this game.

KL Rahul’s smile in reply

Jansen’s frustration was visible to everyone, especially Rahul who was unbeaten on 70 at the end of the day. The wicketkeeper batter was the only silver lining in the innings, where most of the batters were struggling to get going. During the game Jansen was trying to get under his skin by exchanging a few words, to which Rahul just replied with a smile and continued his innings, This did not help Jansen’s cause since he only finished with a solitary wicket going at the rate of over 3.5 which is expensive in Test cricket.

Watch the video below:

pic.twitter.com/OYlJCFxYjL

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This gives us a glimpse of how Rahul approached his innings, not caring about running out of partners and trying to save the innings. He did not allow Jansen who was trying to put him down with some words, but unfortunately, the smile given by Rahul was enough to keep him quiet. It will also be interesting to how far can Rahul take this innings, which is already in a bad situation and get his team to a respectable total on the board giving them some chance to get into this match.