Kallis, the catch, the controversy

With the score at 81/2, the ball turning and nerves frayed out in the middle, Kallis — new at the crease and looking tentative — poked a Bhajji delivery to Gambhir at forward short-leg. The close-in fielders rose as one, the crowd followed suit and every man jack watching on TV felt that Test win move just a bit closer.

Harper, though, was confident as he immediately turned down the appeal and didn’t flinch in the face of the reactions. Sourav Ganguly — who’d been ruled out leg-before by Harper to what everybody felt was a dodgy decision —led the dissent, obviously forgetting his narrow escape from a ban. He threw his hands up in the air and attracted yet another penalty from the match referee.

Kallis, typically, kept his cool in the face of the drama. He’s not a member of the walking club, and there’s a story behind that. Five years ago, he became Courtney Walsh’s 500th Test victim when a similarly huge edge went undetected by the umpire and he was given out lbw.

Since that day Kallis had decided against walking, deciding to wait for the judgement to come from the man in charge.