Rain plays spoilsport on second day

India will look to reset its first-innings target after the second day’s play in the opening Test against South Africa had to be called off without a ball being bowled due to heavy and persistent rain here on Monday.

What started as a drizzle in the morning became a steady downpour in the afternoon, forcing no cricketing action at the SuperSport Park.

With 90 overs lost in the series opener, Virat Kohli’s men, who are sitting pretty at 272 for 3 after a day’s play, will now have to quicken up the proceedings in the remaining three days. The umpires decided to inspect the conditions twice during the course of the day when rain stopped but on both occasions, the heavens opened up just before the officials stepped out on the field. “Unfortunately, due to the large volume of rain today (Monday) at Centurion, play has been called off for the day,” the BCCI stated on its social media handles with a picture of the ground completely soaked in water.

There was too much water on the covers and with literally no sunshine, there was very little chance for the ground to dry up to enable the start of play. India opener KL Rahul (122 batting off 248 balls), the star of the first day, and No.5 Ajinkya Rahane (40 batting off 81 balls) will walk out to the middle when the action resumes.

The South Africa bowling department would hope to deliver the goods, having conceded the advantage to the tourist on its own patch.