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KL Rahul’s rushed toss act during IND vs SA 1st ODI catches Ravi Shastri off guard: ‘Hang on’ – Watch
Ravi Shastri had to remind KL Rahul before he could spin the coin during the 1st India vs South Africa toss.
Luck continued to desert the Indian team as stand-in captain KL Rahul lost the toss to South Africa during the 1st ODI between the two teams at the JSCA Stadium in Ranchi on Sunday. Rahul came out for the toss, hugged Markram and took his position to spin the coin. However, Rahul got a little too ahead of himself as he tried to spin the coin even before Ravi Shastri could complete hyping up the contest.
Shastri was in the middle of his trademark introduction of the two captains. "The two captains – KL Rahul for India, Aiden Markram of South Africa,” he said before Rahul was about to go for the spin. Shastri continued, “You’ve got to hang on, KL”. Rahul then responded with a shy smile as he waited for his chance. However, despite Rahul’s rushed act, the coin landed in South Africa’s favour, allowing them to invite India to bat. In fact, so east was the decision to bowl first that even before Markram could announce his call on the mic, Rahul gestured towards the Indian team that it was their turn to bat.
Also Read: India vs South Africa 1st ODI LIVE
“We would have bowled first as well. The preparation has been good, the energy is there with a lot of players coming back, we want to enjoy ourselves in the middle. That's what the chat has been, we need to use every opportunity we get in the ODI team, this is a great chance to challenge our skills against a very good team. Three spinners and three quicks for us today,” Rahul said after Shastri reminded him, “You were in a rush to spin the coin, weren't you?”
Watch the video below:
Markram, the South Africa captain, added: “Spent a couple of evenings, dew at night time and it'll be slightly easier to bat at night. Different personnel, the dressing room is at a good place with a lot of energy and fun. It's an important series, the end role the 2027 WC, still a bit of time, but we're up against one of the best teams in the world. Just one spinner in Subrayen, I will bowl a bit - Temba and Maharaj have been rested, four seamers for us today.”
Here are the Playing XIs for India and South Africa:
India: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 5 Washington Sundar, 6 KL Rahul, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Harshit Rana, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Prasidh Krishna
South Africa: 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 Quinton de Kock (wk), 4 Matthew Breetzke, 5 Tony de Zorzi, 6 Dewald Brevis, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Corbin Bosch, 9 Prenelan Subrayen, 10 Nandre Burger, 11 Ottneil Baartman
