Virat Kohli gave India a desperately required impetus by building a 68-run partnership alongside Shreyas Iyer to pull India out of precarious situation after their batters Yashasvi Jaiswal (17), Rohit Sharma (5) and Shubman Gill (2) fell in quick succession. Virat Kohli braved South Africa’s impressive bowling attack before falling to Kagiso Rabada’s tremendously powerful delivery. Virat Kohli, meanwhile, had entered the first Test match at Centurion on the back of one net session that was on Christmas Eve. Virat Kohli had also not been into the intra-squad practice game at Pretoria’s Tuks Oval. India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour has stated that Virat Kohli doesn’t need practice session at this stage of his career. 

“The stage of his career Virat (Kohli) is, I don’t think he needs a lot of practice,” Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour said post 1st day’s play during press conference. 

“He bats a lot and trains a lot. So, if he practiced a few days less, doesn’t matter much. We saw, how well he was playing. It didn’t seem he was away from red-ball cricket for six months. It’s a good sign,” he added.

After the fall of wickets at regular intervals, India were put under huge pressure, but KL Rahul’s grit and determination put India into a rather comfortable position. KL Rahul scored a composed knock of (70) to help India get past (200). India finished the day one on 208/8. Rathour also applauded KL Rahul's well-fought knock.

“Rahul is turning out to be man of crisis for us. Every time, there are tough situations, he is the guy who handles the situations very well for us. Nothing special, he was clear with his game plans, defended the right balls, attacked the right ones,” Rathour said.