The Indian openers, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal continued to deliver goods in South Africa as the pair added one more batting record under its belt. The Karnataka mates added 31 runs for the opening wicket after skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first in the third and final Test of the series at Cape Town.

Rahul scored 12 before nicking a Duanne Olivier delivery to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne. Mayank also got dismissed in the next over itself after his bat took a thick outside edge against Kagiso Rabada and the ball landed to Aiden Markram at the second slip. Rahul and Mayank made their way back with lowly scores but Rahul and Mayank became the first Indian opening duo to register 200+ runs in Tests in South Africa.

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Rahul and Mayank are now at the top of the list of Indian opening pairs who have got the most runs on South African soil. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were previously at the first position, having got 184 runs to their name. Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik are on the third spot with 153 runs.

Earlier in the Test series opener at Centurion, Rahul and Mayank had become the third Indian opening pair in Indian Test history to stitch a 100-run stand in a match in South Africa, joining the likes of Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik who had scored 153 in the Cape Town Test in 2007 and Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, who scored 137 in the Centurion Test in 2010.

It was also the second instance in 52 innings in the rainbow nation when a visiting opening pair had stitched a 100-run stand in a Test against South Africa.

Meanwhile, India will be eyeing their first-ever Test series win in the Rainbow nation. Skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat first in overcast conditions in the series decider at the Newlands. He replaced Hanuma Vihari in the playing XI while Umesh Yadav came in the starting eleven in place of Mohammed Siraj, who picked a hamstring injury in the last Test at Johannesburg.

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During the toss, Virat Kohli said, “The pitch looks nice, it has grass on it but runs on the board at this venue has worked out well in the past. We will utilize the skill of our bowlers to put pressure on them after that. It was a tough decision whether to play Ishant (Sharma) or Umesh, but he has bowled very well recently.”