India fight back on third evening
Prem Panicker
Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein, on day three, reminded you of the Goodyear blimp -- empty of everything but hot air.
If you are used to seeing Calcutta's Gardens -- or any other Indian venue for that matter -- packing in a lakh and more for India playing a team of eskimos, it could feel a touch strange to find less than 100 (and that includes the family dog and sundry sunbathers) at a venue that, over the first two days, had produced close to 700 runs.
The Test has thus far lasted six sessions -- and the home side has taken the honours in four of them. India needed to pull one back in the morning if the game wasn't to get completely away from them. And Wright and Ganguly, with that in mind, started the day off by reading the riot act to their bowlers.
Sourav Ganguly opted to hold back the new ball, preferring to go with Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan. The former was nicely on length and line, and Zaheer was a vast improvement on the version that was on view on day two. But with the old ball, the best the two could do was engage in a holding operation, which suited South Africa quite nicely since time was on their side.
Ganguly finally took the new ball, 14 overs behind schedule -- and the results were immediate. Nehra, like Zahir, appeared to have woken up from the stupor he was in yesterday, and set things up nicely with an incisive opening over. In his next one, he hit the perfect length, angling one across Kallis and kicking it up off a length to take the batsman's edge for Laxman to make a low diving catch at second slip look easier than it really was. Kallis (68/138) had gone something like 500 runs without being dismissed, and this innings was on par with his recent essays -- slow, dogged, content to wait for something loose to bully.
Boeta Dipenaar, playing at home, looked as much at home as a Martian who had just parked his saucer. He was on the front foot to the short stuff, on the back foot to the length stuff, and was no way impressive against old ball and new. Srinath -- who looked a good five years younger this morning -- ended his misery with a classic quick bowler's ploy. There as the short one to have the batsman hopping back, then the quick, full length ball on middle seaming away. Dipenaar hopped back by rote, was squared up, and was beaten for pace and movement and bowled past the outside of the bat for 20 off 62 balls -- all 20 of those runs coming off boundaries.
The very next ball found Pollock's wicket -- the South African captain walked tentatively out to a ball just back of length, to find it kick up, take the glove and thigh pad en route to Shiv Sundar Das, celebrating his 24th birthday under the helmet at short square leg. That was wicket number 200, incidentally, for Srinath and 54 of those have come against South Africa.
Lance Klusener and Mark Boucher had their moments -- quite a few of them -- of uncertainity against two seam bowlers hitting their straps and bowling superbly. Both, though, are the kind who will ride their luck no matter what, and for the rest of the session, they did just that, shrugging off the occasions when ball beat bat, and clubbing at everything they could get bat to.
Not a pretty sight, but it did take the home team in to lunch on 419/6, off 109 overs (Boucher 19/29 and Klusener 29/27), ahead of India by 40 runs with four wickets still standing.
The South African run rate had during the session been pegged marginally back to 3.85 and that, coupled with the three wickets, meant that India had taken the session, on points.
The most intriguing feature of the morning's play was the bowling of the three seamers. Srinath, Zaheer and Nehra all ran in with purpose, added a yard or three to their pace, gave backs and shoulders a good workout looking for the fuller length and enhanced bounce, and suddenly looked a lot more like it. One of these days, some kid looking to earn his Masters will do a research paper on why the Indian bowlers invariably let the horse bolt before chasing after it -- and then we will all know, too.
Till then, be grateful for the good moments and don't forget to breathe while waiting for the next of those moments to come along.
Post lunch session
If however you did hold your breath waiting, the second session would have asphyxiated you. The pattern was set when Srinath in the first over ambled in to send down deliveries at a gentle 126 kmph. At the other end, Zaheer Khan ran in with the heavy-footed tread of someone who had injudiciously opted for the fourth helping of chicken. And the adventurous pair of Mark Boucher and Lance Klusener took the bit between their teeth and were off and running.
They do say that it is the first few overs at the start of each session that the batsmen are at their most vulnerable and, ergo, that the bowling needs to be at its sharpest. They may have said it, but apparently the guys doing duty with the ball for India out there weren't listening -- the first hour produced the most listless bowling yet on view, and the two batsmen, quick to seize the advantage, took full toll.
With Klusener swinging his heavy three-pounder at pretty much everything and not bothering over much whether he hit or missed (50 off 44 balls with as many as 11 fours, not all of them where they were aimed to go), Boucher throttled back and focussed on holding his end up and letting his partner do the heavy hitting. The shots on view were for the most part neither scientific nor pretty -- but they produced the runs, in a dizzying flood, and that was all South Africa needed.
The Indians promptly fell back on the defensive. It's something you notice often with the bowlers -- once they feel the weight of the hammer, they lose the plot completely, bowl six different lines and lengths in the over, and look bewildered.
Ganguly in his desperation tossed the ball to Virendra Sehwag, using him however as a defensive option with not much by way of close-catching support. Despite which, Sehwag made one kick and spin off a length across Boucher, the batsman shaped to flick fine, got the thick inner edge and Dasgupta, momentarily unsighted, got the ball on the fingers of his gloves and let it go.
Srinath, finally, stepped back up the pace scale and produced one delivery of around the 135k mark that hit a line just on off, drawing Boucher forward and straightening to find the edge for Dravid at second slip to hold, low and well ending an innings of 47/85 and a partnership of 121 for the 7th wicket that, with its rapidity of run-making, took the game away from India.
Niky Boje, walking in at nine with a Test century to his name, did not however last long. Ashish Nehra, who like Srinath appeared to have found a fresh set of legs as the afternoon wore on, took him out with one that hit line around off, lifted and seamed away to feather the edge of Boje's (6 off 26, partnership of 19) push through to Dasgupta.
The session ended with Klusener taking another of his swipes at a bouncer from Nehra off the last ball of the tea, the top edge flying -- yet again -- over the head of the keeper and through to third man for four to seal a session that belonged entirely to South Africa.
530/8 off 137 at tea put the home side a hefty 151 ahead. Klusener walked back with 97 (111 balls, 17 fours) against his name. The session produced 111 runs, off 28 overs -- and belonged entirely to South Africa. Which means that if you are keeping score, the home side have thus far taken the honours in five sessions, against three to the Indians. Sadly, only one of those sessions for India was with the ball -- and that should tell you the tale of lack of consistency. With 35 overs left in the day, plus another 180 left in the match, the home side had made the driver's seat its own.
Post tea session
Klusener duly clubbed his 18th four, the one that got him to his 4th Test century, immediately after the break, thanks to a Kumble full toss. But shortly thereafter, Klusener, intent on waiting for the smashable ball and whiling away time in between, pushed half heartedly at a Kumble top spinner as the leggie went around the wicket, and gave Kumble a return catch to end an innings that bludgeoned India into submission.
Ntini had a bit of fun with Srinath, pulling and slapping him straight for sixes, before the seamer found the outer edge to end the South African innings and, in the process, complete a five-wicket haul.
India, trailing 184, began disastrously as Rahul Dravid, still seeming unsure of his new role, forgot his own impeccable technique and pushed a straight and full ball from Pollock to gully. But at the other end, Shiv Sundar Das apparently decided that he was not going to make the mistake of being overly cautious -- and after opening out with ten runs in the first over of Pollock, settled down to playing the ball on merit alone.
As, in fact, did VVS Laxman. There was one streaky pull, which found the top edge for a four over the keeper's head -- but given the number of times Klusener had played that shot on this track, it had almost been elevated to the status of a cricketing shot.
Both batsmen played with assurance, Das bringing up his 50 and, with Laxman, taking the side home on a solid 96/1 in the allotted 27 overs.
The pitch is wearing a bit, cracks have been opening up. And the solid response by India puts, back in the frame, a slender chance to force the win. A controlled first hour of batting tomorrow, with the strokemakers cutting loose thereafter -- and if SA have to chase like 250 on the fifth day on a wearing pitch, this Test could still produce high drama.
Detailed Scorecards:
Indian 1st innings
South African 1st innings
Indian 2nd innings
Day Two: South Africa do unto India...
Day One: Tendulkar, Sehwag stun with tons
