India finally crack the code

After a flat track in Chennai and a green wicket in Ahmedabad, hosts hit back on a pitch that turns square on Day One

It wasn8217;t tough to say what did it 8212; the 20-minute jog or the fact that South Africa were dismissed for their lowest score of the series. But a few minutes with India8217;s bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad after the day8217;s play and his work-out made it clear that he was delighted.

Between gasps, he said he was thrilled that his two young bowlers 8212; Ishant Sharma and Piyush Chawla 8212; had taken half the wickets to fall in South Africa8217;s first-innings score of 265. 8220;Both of them were playing a Test after a break. For them to deliver is a really pleasing,8221; he said.

When asked about the inputs he had given Ishant, who finished with figures of 3 for 55, about bowling on this much-discussed Green Park pitch, he gave a simple reply: 8220;The idea is to bowl in the corridor of uncertainty and leave it to the pitch. The ball will do things on its own.8221;

When the outcome of a Test depends on the width of the cracks on the track, which in turn depend on the mercury reading on the thermometer, you know something isn8217;t right.

You can celebrate India8217;s bowling triumph on Day One but not go overboard about it. The answer to the most vital question 8212; can India save the series? 8212; will be addressed when the visiting bowlers show their wares tomorrow. That will decide which of the adjectives 8212; low, modest, sporting or winning 8212; can be tagged to South Africa8217;s total.

Never comfortable

Hashim Amla, who spent 114 minutes on the crease to score 51, explained the batting woes. 8220;No matter how long you have spent in the middle, you are never in,8221; he said. A perfect example of what Amla said could be seen in the events preceding South African skipper Graeme Smith8217;s dismissal.

Smith cut a short ball from Yuvraj for a four, and then moved his feet to meet a flighted ball for six 8212; it seemed Smith had mastered the track after negotiating 134 balls, among them one from Harbhajan Singh that leapt up at the South African skipper8217;s throat. The next delivery was an innocuous quicker one from Yuvraj, and Smith instinctively came forward to defend. But the bounce ditched the skipper and the ball took his glove before landing in the hands of a diving Wasim Jaffer at short-leg.

The tide turns

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That wicket proved to be the turning point of the day as the batsmen to follow either seemed unable to gauge the bounce or simply ran out of patience. South Africa, who were once coasting at 152-1, lost their last nine wickets for just 113 8212; not surprising on a pitch where part-timers Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj got purchase on the first day, and where an Ishant Sharma delivery kept low early on.

But credit is due to Ishant, who was an injury suspect in the nets before the game. The impression was carried on even when he started bowling. For someone who last played in the Test series in Australia, a rude awakening looked on cards. He bowled a bouncer in his first spell to the much shorter Neil McKenzie that just reached the batsman8217;s hips and was dispatched to the mid-wicket fence. But Ishant returned to bowl two impressive spells that restricted the South Africans.

As a satisfied Kanpur crowd 8212; which had braved the hot and windy conditions 8212; left the Green Park stadium, there were guarded smiles on their faces. The South African total is like an oasis in the desert, but it could yet turn out to be a mirage.