India plays safe, 88/2 at lunch

The visitors frittered away a solid start to be be bundled out at the fag end of the day on a Green Park track which has given enough indication that it will deteriorate rapidly. For India, Harbhajan Singh (3-52) and Ishant Sharma (3-55) shared six wickets among them to restrict the South Africans.

The hosts could make little headway in the morning session but found more luck midway through the post-lunch session as the Proteas lost one wicket after another to squander the advantage of batting first when the pitch was at its best.

Captain Graeme Smith (69) and Hashim Amla (51) were the notable contributors for the South Africans but none of the other batsmen could hang around for long on a pitch which gave some assistance to the spinners.

The home team’s quest for a series-levelling win started on a note of despair as they not only lost a crucial toss but had to go into the match without their captain Anil Kumble, who pulled out because of a groin injury.

Electing to bat, the two South African openers Smith an Neil McKenzie (36) provided a solid start of 61 runs before the young Piyush Chawla celebrated his return to Test cricket by scalping McKenzie in his very first over.

The right-handed McKenzie jumped out of the crease to hit the young spinner but was beaten by flight and stand-in captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was quick to do the stumping work.

The South African openers, who hold the world record for the opening partnership, looked quite comfortable on the Green Park track which, contrary to expectations, played quite easy in the opening session.

McKenzie’s exit was the only success for the Indians in the pre-lunch session but the complexion of the game changed to some extent midway through the second session with the hosts dismissing the dangerous trio of Smith, Amla and Jacques Kallis (1) in the span of five overs to roar back into the game.

The visitors were comfortably placed at 152 for one before India hit back much to the delight of the sparse crowd who cheered lustily as wickets tumbled. The second half of the post-lunch session turned out to be productive for the Indians with Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan and Ishant claiming a wicket each.

Resuming at the lunch score of 80 for one, Smith and Amla continued from where they had left as the duo played cautiously to consolidate the position for the South Africans who are looking to clinch a landmark series triumph on Indian soil.

Just when Smith started to look dangerous and accelerated the pace of scoring by clobbering two sixes, Yuvraj Singh managed to evict him, triggering off a mini top order collapse.

Earlier, the Indians suffered a big jolt even before a single ball was bowled with captain Kumble being ruled out of the crucial match because of a groin injury, leaving Dhoni to become the first wicket-keeper to lead India’s Test team.

Smith and McKenzie were quite content in playing the waiting game but were prompt to dispatch the loose deliveries to the boundary. The Indians began the bowling operations with S Sreesanth and Ishant, who returned to the team in place of Irfan Pathan following an injury lay-off, but both the paceman could not make much of an impression.

Ishant hardly looked menacing and was a trifle expensive in his first spell of nine overs. Smith hit him for two boundaries in the same over and those strokes made him a lot more confident in the middle.

Dhoni introduced spin in the form of Harbhajan as early as the ninth over but the off-spinner could not get much turn or bite from the track in the morning session. Smith and Amla, who has been in fine nick right through the series, added 91 runs for the second wicket and never really looked in any discomfort.

The South African captain notched up his 22nd half century in style by hitting Chawla for a six while Amla also managed to crack a half century to continue his good form.