Visakhapatnam: It was a tough initiation to Test cricket for Senuran Muthusamy, 25, the all-rounder with his roots in India but who is otherwise 'firmly South African', as he put it. Muthusamy's stronger suit is his batting — he has seven hundreds and an average of 32.72 from 69 first-class games — but what formalised his Test debut was that he can also bowl more than handy left-arm spin. Muthusamy sent down just five overs, going for 23, but watched from close quarters as Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma schooled South Africa on Day One of the first Test yesterday.

Welcome to Test cricket

"There is reason why it is called Test cricket," he philosophised. "It is tough; of course, some of the world's best players are playing in the opposition. I learned from my first day that you need to compete every ball, not just in bowling but from a batting perspective as well, you just need to hang in there. You need to plug away and thereby try to take control," he added.