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Virat Kohli twitched his nose. roared the pro-India portion of the crowd, many of whom were on either side of the staircase connecting the Centurion Players’ Terrace to the border. Kohli got up, holding his helmet in one hand and his bat in the other, and started down the stairs.

The crowd reached for a louder sound, absorbed it, and then released it like a motorcycle exploding near a cemetery at 4 a.m. Rohit Sharma became the first wicket of the Test series two balls earlier, when Kagiso Rabada pushed him to the hook and caught at long leg. India’s best No.4 gets down there and into the dugout, ready to go.

There are 48 steps between the players’ terrace and the boundary on this ground, and the crowd built louder, thicker and denser walls of sound around Kohli with each of his landing steps. Suddenly, it became apparent that the fence next to the stairs had been raised, using steel barricades of the kind deployed to control public protests, from their original waist height to taller than most people would be if they stood with their arms extended upwards. The reason for doing this suddenly became clear.

Kohli, the king of cricket, an icon of the times, and a scion of his community, needed protection from those who idolized him. So did other India players. But no one in cricket is Kohli. As he disappeared into the stifling tunnel of love, without looking right or left, and showing no semblance of acknowledgment of what was happening all around, it was hard not to feel sorry for him.

But that only lasted until Kohli broke free into the damp morning below and returned to the more real world he knew. He was in the dugout for most of the 21 minutes between Sharma’s dismissal and Yashasvi Jaiswal, whose loose driving and consequent catch behind Nandre Burger earned him the first Test wicket – a nod to Gerald Coetzee, in why he offered his congratulations. , chained with whoops and yawns of joy from his beautiful leg to the middle, with all the excitement of a young father seeing his six-year-old score a goal.

Kohli batted and bowled Burger’s last two balls in vain, then had to wait for four more deliveries before he could take the first crack at the bowler that would impact Tuesday’s play. After this, two scoreless deliveries were made, and the anointed one, Rabada, took six overs in his daily work.

At his best, Rabada exists on another planet in a galaxy far, far away from the rest. It slips into the fold and into an action that is its own reaction; The victory of mind over muscles. Tuesday was such a day. He took 5/44 at 208/8 in India, bowled as well.

“I focused on my training, and I knew what I wanted to get out of it,” Rabada said. “Days like this happen in cricket. Sometimes you get the ball in the right area and you’re not very successful. Today was just my day. Sometimes it happens that way.”

“All week the ball was coming out well, so I went into the game with full confidence. I’m happy that the focus and hard work has paid off. My body and mind were feeling good going into this Test series.”

However, before lunch, Rabada was backing away a lot, weakening the edge of the contact and swaying on the pitch due to the fact that he spent almost 40 hours under cover due to the 51mm of rain that fell in Centurion. In the 36 hours before the start of the match. Berger aside, the rest of the South African attack also failed to penetrate as much as they should have done, perhaps because the Indians were judicious in the plan of stacking the side pitch and bowling middle and leg.

India were not in the best of form at 91/3, but Rabada had Shreyas Iyer dropped by Marco Jansen at point followed five deliveries later by Tony de Zorzi at square leg which led to Kohli being bowled off by Burger. So, things could have been worse for the visitors.

South Africa also suffered a setback. Temba Bavuma left the field in the seventh inning before lunch due to a left hamstring strain while chasing the ball. His condition will be monitored to determine his chances of remaining in the match. A similar injury struck Bavuma during the World Cup. But in that case the injury was to the right hamstring, so this is not a recurrence of an unhealed injury. Instead, questions will be asked about Bavuma’s fitness: he missed a first-class match, the only competitive cricket match between the World Cup and the first Test, due to his miss.

Dean Elgar, who was replaced by Bavuma as captain in February, regained the captaincy. How much of the change in South Africa’s approach after lunch – when they reverted to a more traditional line outside off stump – was due to Elgar and how much of the effort of the team and coaching staff remains to be known. But it worked: India lost 3/57 in the next hour.

“Given that we had left-handed players in our attack, we generally tried to pass the ball (to the right-handers), and with the bounce we could extract from the wicket, this seemed to be the tactic to follow when ‘time’ came,” Al-Rabada said. “Temba had an inside feel.” On the best way to get a wicket. It made sense for his leg to slip – it almost worked for Virat; He fell at square leg. After lunch we had to change tactics. We readjusted and I looked at the bowl channel.”

Rabada confirmed his class with the sixth ball of the second session, which went past Iyer’s inside edge and bowled. Four overs later Rabada directed a full delivery towards Kohli’s stump. It swerved far enough to draw even one of the modern greats into a stroke, which he bested.

“I took a swing late,” Rabada said. “Most of the time he covers that channel or makes a play and misses. He’s a great player, and you have to really be out there against him. So I’m glad I got the swoon there.”

At the end of each success over Rabada he returned to the cheers of the fans outside his section of the border. They were positioned a few meters away from Kohli’s crowd, and were quickly contesting them. So when Kohli walked back up those 48 stairs, this time amid the same cold, indifferent silence that has blighted India’s World Cup matches whenever the opposition did something worthy of any fans’ appreciation, Rabada’s hooligans were reaching their limit.

“KG is better than Kohli,” came the rising phrase. It was fair enough, but things took a turn for the ugly after Rabada hit Shardul Thakur on the elbow, followed by Coetzee hitting him on the helmet. To the tune of the chorus from The Cranberry’s Zombie, the spectators behind Rabada sang, “He’ll hit your head… Hit your head… KG! KG! KG!”

If Rabada heard that, he didn’t say: “The summer atmosphere in South Africa and the cricket season is always great. I’m not sure how many beers they drank, but I think it was quite a few. They were having a good time playing cricket and it’s very nice to see.”

“I had to pinch myself at some point. The house was basically packed. The last time we played a Test here, against the West Indies (in February and March), it wasn’t nearly half full. Before that we played against India” (in December 2021 during Lockdown) and there was no one in the stands. So it’s great to see that. “The holiday season in South Africa is amazing, and I felt that vibe.”

A looming, angry gray cloud that had built up behind the only stand on the ground blocked out enough light after tea to stop play, and the ensuing deluge halted play. KL Rahul’s combative innings, a combination of absolute defense and outright attack that has taken him to 70 runs, will be central on Wednesday morning. But that will not dim the spotlight on Kohli and Rabada.