Sairaj Bahutule exposed South Africans’ weakness against spin bowling with a four-wicket haul as Board President’s XI fought back on the opening day of the three-day tour match at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here today.The visitors were off to a rollicking start as their top order batsmen made the most of a placid track with some aggressive strokemaking before being caught in Bahutule’s spin web. The Mumbai leg spinner finished with four for 65 before South Africa declared their first innings at 226 for five. At stumps, the hosts were four for no loss with Dheeraj Jadhav on three and Gautam Gambhir on zero at the crease.The South Africans lost four wickets, all of them to Bahutule, for 53 runs in the evening session as they slid from a strong position of 164 for one at tea. But that was not before Graeme Smith and his batsmen lived up to their pre-match statement of playing attacking cricket and putting the pressure on the hosts. Smith was the dominant partner in the two stands he shared with opener Jacques Rudolph and Justin Ontong. After adding 72 runs for the opening stand, Smith featured in a 92-run stand with Ontong. The captain perished when he stepped out to Bahutule off the second ball after tea and was stumped by M S Dhoni.More notable though, was Ontong, who could be a key element in South Africa’s game plan in the two Tests ahead. Ontong has been a steady performer with the bat in first class cricket but he was included in the team as a specialist spinner. SCOREBOARD
