India have been bowled out for 228 in their second innings which means, the target for South Africa is 303 runs.VVS Laxman produced his seemingly customary second-innings gem to defy South Africa's bowlers on a Kingsmead pitch that was still spicy, and pushed India to a position of strength. On another see-saw day, India finished the morning session well on top but South Africa hit back after lunch, needing only 10 overs to nip out the final three wickets and limit the lead from ballooning too far beyond 300. Laxman had earlier strung together the two biggest partnerships of the match, first with MS Dhoni and then with Zaheer Khan, to set South Africa the stiff challenge of chasing 303.
This healthy a lead looked unlikely when a steepler from Morne Morkel had Cheteshwar Pujara playing on in the second over of the day. Both Morkel and Dale Steyn were getting late swing, and with the odd delivery rearing up, life was hard for Laxman and Dhoni. There were several air-drives and edged boundaries past and over the slips. To South Africa's dismay, the pair didn't just survive, but scored quickly as well, with a bunch of fours from Dhoni helping raise 41 in seven overs.
Steyn was seen off, the partnership grew and a classic Laxman backfoot-drive past point, off Morkel, soothed Indian nerves, but once again Lonwabo Tsotsobe produced the breakthrough. He had Dhoni poking at a delivery angling across, feathering an edge to Mark Boucher. Harbhajan Singh fell three overs later, rooted in the crease as he prodded at a Morkel delivery, and edged to the safe hands of Jacques Kallis at second slip.
The lead was 212, and South Africa sensed a quick end to the innings, but Zaheer and Laxman tilted the game towards India with a 70-run stand. A long partnership didn't look likely given the way Zaheer started his innings: looking to swipe nearly every delivery out of the ground, and rarely managing to connect. Laxman was his calm self at the other end, working the singles around and becoming the first player to make a half-century in the game.
Laxman was much more in control in the second half of the session, looking for the gaps and not worrying too much about Zaheer's impetuous strokes. With Kallis and Paul Harris bowling, the pressure was also reduced, and the runs started to flow. South Africa's frustration grew as Laxman cracked Harris past backward point for four, and another century beckoned for Laxman.
Zaheer also played his part. He had sparked India to life with the ball on Monday, and his aggression with the bat paid off today. He didn't mind the swing-and-misses, or the umpteen lbw appeals - including a dead-plumb one off Steyn that was turned down - and kept going for his shots. The session ended with India in charge, emphasised by a couple of powerful boundaries from Zaheer off the last two deliveries before the break.
South Africa will be buoyed by their performance after lunch, though, as their bowlers nipped out the remaining wickets for the addition of only 10 runs. Zaheer joined the long list of batsman that gave the slips catching practice in this Test, Ishant fended a bouncer to short leg and Laxman, looking for the big hits with the last man around, edged Steyn to Mark Boucher to fall short of what would have been a sixth second-innings hundred.
No comments:
Post a Comment