India take a familiar route after Tendulkar enacts Man Friday role again

Kirsten and Gibbs appeared to have put the South Africans on course by raising 90 runs, until Tendulkar arrived. He began his act by claiming Gibbs and then leg-spinner Anil Kumble took charge with a double-strike in his 11th over to send back Jacques Kallis and Hansie Cronje.

South Africa had lost their way after their openers had done a creditable job resulting in the entire side being back in the pavilion for the addition of just 86 runs. Tendulkar went on to log his career-best bowling figures of 3-10 while speedster Javagal Srinath cleaned up the tail in eleven balls conceding five runs.

In between, left-arm spinner Murali Karthik too chipped in with two wickets and was party to wicket-keeper Nayan Mongia’s celebrations of 100 victims. Mongia, achieved the feat when Karthik induced an edge from the South African wicket-keeper Mark Boucher.

The Indian batsmen fared no better and for the umpteenth time, the likes of Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar walked in to see the new ball off. Cronje soured Tendulkar’s bowling high by claiming the Indian batting maestro for a measly score in his very first over. The Indian captain completely misread the medium pace of his opposite number and was dismissed shouldering arms to an in-cutter, leaving little doubt for umpire Srinivas Venkataraghavan.

Saurav Ganguly and Dravid then seemed set to carry the battle into the next day. But Ganguly extended his exuberance too far and perished leaving the Indians staring at the tail by the end of the day. The southpaw’s flourishing stay at the crease was peppered with his trade-mark drives until he chased Pollock to the slips.

Ajay Jadeja, justified the reason why he has been kept out of the Test side with another pathetic display which left Dravid and Kumble to see the day through without scoring in the 33 balls they faced.

On a track offering bounce, the batting was of the lowest quality with neither team showing the temperament to brace up to the task. Thus, it should be no surprise if the five-day encounter ends on the third day itself.

INDIA (1st innings): 225

SOUTH AFRICA (1st innings; overnight 27-0)
Gary Kirsten b Tendulkar (139b, 192m, 5×4) 50
(swept all over an off break)

Herschelle Gibbs c Ganguly b Tendulkar (101b, 129m, 6×4, 1×5) 47
(caught in two minds of tackling a leg-break)

Jacques Kallis c Laxman b Kumble (9b, 10m, 1×4) 5
(foxed by a sharp turner that spun across the face of the bat)

Hansie Cronje c Laxman b Kumble (2b, 2m) 0

(prodded a leg-break to silly point)
Peiter Strydom c Agarkar b Kartik (9b, 10m) 2

(mistimed drive to mid-off)
Lance Klusener c Laxman b Srinath (58b, 96m, 2×4) 33

(slash pouched by second slip diving to first slip)
Shaun Pollock c Jadeja b Tendulkar (4b, 3m) 0

(skied a pull off a long hop)
Mark Boucher c Mongia b Kartik (16b, 21m) 3

(edged a sharp turner)
Nicky Boje b Srinath (37b, 46m, 3×4) 14

(bowled by in-cutter that kept low)
Clive Eksteen b Srinath (4b, 3m, 1×4) 4

(missed a heave to a leg-cutter)
Allan Donald not out (6b, 9m) 1

Extras: (8b, 8lb, 1nb) 17
Total: (all out in 64 overs, 265 mins) 176
Fall of wickets:1-90 (Gibbs, 31.3 overs), 2-102 (Kallis, 34.3), 3-102 (Cronje, 34.5), 4-105 (Strydom, 37.4), 5-131 (Kirsten, 48.2), 6-131 (Pollock, 48.6), 7-144 (Boucher, 53.5), 8-169 (Klusener, 61.2), 9-173 (Eksteen, 62), 10-176 (Boje, 61.6)

Bowling:Srinath 12-2-45-3, Agarkar 7-1-15-0, Kumble 22-1-62-2 (1nb), Kartik 18-6-28-2, Tendulkar 5-1-10-3

INDIA (2nd innings)

Wasim Jaffer c Klusener b Pollock (22b, 35m, 1×4) 6
(nudged at an away going delivery)

Venkata Sai Laxman c Boucher b Donald (6b, 10m) 0
(failed to keep away from a snorter)

Rahul Dravid batting ((96b, 142m, 4×4) 27
Sachin Tendulkar lbw Cronje (11b, 20m, 2×4) 8
(shouldered arms to an in-cutter)

Saurav Ganguly c Klusener b Pollock (42b, 58m, 4×4, 1×6) 31
(edged to first slip while driving away from the body)

Ajay Jadeja c Boucher b Donald 1 (13b, 15m) 1
(gloved a leg-side delivery)

Anil Kumble batting (15b, 21m) 0
Extras: (1lb, 1nb) 2
Total: (for five wickets in 34 overs, 153 mins) 75
Fall of wickets:1-5 (Laxman, 2.5), 2-13 (Jaffer, 7.6), 3-24 (Tendulkar, 11.6), 4-73 (Ganguly, 24.5), 5-75 (Jadeja, 28.3)

Bowling:Donald 8-5-3-2, Pollock 9-3-24-2 (1nb), Kallis 5-1-21-0, Cronje 5-3-5-1, Eksteen 7-3-2-0