Pathan brings change as the coin slips again

But the day belonged to the young Irfan. He wanted the new ball first thing in the morning, and Ganguly obliged. He would later say that he had a ‘‘point to prove’’, having missed three Tests on the trot. His first ball — outside the off stump, was left alone by Graeme Smith. But the second one — harmless in retrospect — somehow drew Smith well outside the off-stump, and to a healthy nick.

At the other end, Zaheer slipped into a nice line and rhythm, and with Irfan softening up the batsmen, Zaheer picked up Andrew Hall. ‘‘When you have someone bowling as well Zaheer was, it only makes my job easy. Often it happens that the bowler who bowls best ends up not taking the most wickets, but he builds up pressure for the other bowlers to exploit,’’ Irfan said after the match about the partnership.

But after that first spell — when Zaheer and Irfan bowled unchanged for an hour and 15 minutes — things went on a downswing. With the early morning nip going away, there was no swing for the duo, and Jacques Kallis and Jacques Rudolph put together a 109-run stand. ‘‘There was not much in it (pitch), so we had to be consistent with our lines,’’ Irfan said.

The spinners came on and tried their luck, but did not have any effect on the defensive-minded South Africans who showed no evidence of Smith’s pre-match comment that the visitors were going for a win.

Enter Zaheer for a second spell, and with a bit of reverse-swing coming into play, Rudolph saw his off-stump going for a tour near the wicketkeeper.

And with Zaheer picking up his second, there was no way Ganguly could keep Irfan away from the action. If you saw Irfan at the time, there was this buzz around him, a restlessness, and it was evident that he wanted to have a go at the newcomers.

So it was back to Irfan and while he took time to get his line right, the way he reversed the ball was encouraging. He castled debutant Hashim Amla with a ball that pitched on leg, cut in and hit the right-handers off-stump to bring the sway of the game back towards India. Boeta Dippenaar also didn’t last long, Irfan getting one to move away from the right-hander and inducing a nick.

Now, while Irfan (primarily) and Zaheer have kept the initiative firmly with India after Day One — despite Kallis’ dogged century, his first against India — Smith would have been as happy as Ganguly at the outcome. ‘‘It’s good for us that the pacemen took wickets. We only have one spinner (Justin Ontong), so that could work to our advantage,’’ said Smith.

The new-ball has been taken and an early start tomorrow would only mean that Irfan and Zaheer can have another go at the Safs. Irfan doesn’t promise anything, but does say: ‘‘The first thing would be to get South Africa out as soon as possible.’’