Watch: Kagiso Rabada nips and bounces ball away from Virat Kohli to keep wait for international hundred No.71 going

Watch: Virat Kohli’s long wait for his 71st international century continued, after falling to Kagiso Rabada for 79, his highest Test score in over two years.

Kohli, making a return to the side as the skipper in his 99th Test and the series decider in Cape Town, top-scored in India’s total of 223 on day one. He began slowly, taking 158 balls to reach his fifty, and continued to occupy one end as he regularly lost partners.

When he crossed 75, it became his highest Test score since November 2019, which was the last time he scored a Test century. However, the pursuit of a three-digit score was extinguished when he poked at a Rabada delivery pitched outside the off stump, sending an edge to the wicketkeeper to be the ninth wicket to fall.

It was Rabada’s fourth wicket in his 50th Test: he’s now taken 230 wickets, the fourth-most by a seam bowler before turning 27. He’s currently leading the wickets tally in the ongoing series, with 17 wickets at 19.29 so far.

Incidentally, it was the first time Kohli had faced 200 or more deliveries in a Test innings since October 2019, when he scored 254 against the same opposition at home. He’s now gone 26 innings without adding to his tally of 27 Test hundreds.