Records tumble as India gain control on Day 2 of the Vizag Test against South Africa

In the first of the three-match Test series against South Africa, India have been the superior side for the entire course of the first two days in Visakhapatnam.

After opting to bat first, rain played its part on Day 1 as India finished with 202 for no loss at the end of the day’s play. Continuing the dominance from Day 1, both the openers Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal looked in supreme touch as they piled on the misery for the hapless Proteas bowling attack. 

With a record opening stand of 317 runs, the hosts have almost batted out the visitors, leaving them in all sorts of bother in the first Test. 

It was a colossal batting effort from the Indians as Rohit Sharma brought up his second-highest Test score, while Mayank Agarwal notched his maiden Test ton and even converted it into a double hundred to make it worse for the opposition. 

However, the Indian middle-order crumbled before taking the score past the 500-run mark. India declared at 502 for 7, asking the hosts to survive the last twenty overs on Day 2. 

After a few overs of seam, Indian skipper Virat Kohli brought in his spinners to inflict damage upon the visitors. By the end of Day 2, the Proteas were already left reeling with three quick wickets to further dent their chances to claim any honours in the day. 

With only 39 runs on the board, the visitors trail by 463 runs with three days of cricket still left in the match. 

In what turned out to be a nearly perfect day for the hosts, many records tumbled as India decimated South Africa with a dominating batting display: 

317 – Third highest opening partnership for India in Test cricket. The duo of Mayank Agrawal and Rohit Sharma is only behind the Vinoo Mankad - Pankaj Roy stand of 413 runs in Chennai in 1956 and the Virender Sehwag- Rahul Dravid partnership of 410 runs at Lahore in 2006. 

10 – Only the tenth instance in Indian Test cricket when both the openers registered a century in the same innings. The last time it happened was when Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay opened against Afghanistan in June 2018. 

2 – The second highest opening partnership for an Indian pair opening for the first time together in Test cricket. Sehwag and Dravid accounted for a gigantic 410-run stand against Pakistan at Lahore in 2006. 

317 – This also happens to be the highest partnership for India against South Africa in Tests for any wicket. Previously, Sehwag and Dravid recorded 268 runs for the second wicket against the Proteas in Chennai in 2008. 

4 – Mayank Agarwal became the fourth Indian to convert his maiden Test ton into a double century. Previously, three more Indians have achieved this feat with Karun Nair’s 303 in Chennai in 2016, being the latest occasion. 

9 – Most sixes hit by an Indian opening pair during their partnership. Rohit contributed with 6 sixes while Agarwal hit the ball thrice over the ropes. 

176 – Rohit’s second-highest Test score is also the second-highest score by any Indian opening the batting for the first time. It remains behind Shikhar Dhawan’s 187 on his debut against Australia in Mohali in 2013. 

6 – Rohit Sharma became only the sixth batsman in history to register scores of 150+ against South Africa both in ODIs and Tests. 

391 – The aggregate runs accumulated by the Indian openers – 215 by Agarwal and 176 by Rohit, is the third highest in any Test innings. The highest of 404 is also for an Indian pair – Vinoo Mankad (231) and Pankaj Roy (176) against New Zealand in 1956.