K L Rahul's brave century in India’s first innings of the ongoing first Test against South Africa, at Centurion, on Wednesday drew high acclaim from Sunil Gavaskar.
The legendary opener rated the knock "in the top ten in the history" of India's red-ball cricket.
Rahul, who walked into the middle with India four down for 92 on Tuesday, Day 1 of the Test, scored a gutsy 101 off 137 balls before being knocked over by debutant pacer Nandre Burger, as the visitors were dismissed for 245.
Commentating in Hindi on Star Sports, Gavaskar asserted that Rahul's knock was on a difficult surface, where the ball was behaving erratically and the confidence needed to bat on such a track had to be enormous.
"I have been watching cricket for over 50 years now, and I can undoubtedly say this century by Rahul has to be in the top ten of India's Test history because it's a different pitch here," he said.
"A batter would not gain the confidence so easily that he has set, especially with the ball doing anything at any time.”
Applauding the six Rahul hit off Gerald Coetzee to get to his hundred, Gavaskar added, "The shot with which he reached to his hundred, no praise would be enough for it. It was a length ball, and he played a shot that you would normally see in T20s. Amazing!”
Rahul's century is his second at venue. He is now the only overseas batter to have multiple Test tons there.
While striking 14 fours and four sixes during his knock, he also become the second Indian wicketkeeper-batter after Rishabh Pant to hit a Test century in South Africa.
He continued his impeccable record of scoring hundreds in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries, five of his eight tons coming in these nations.
