Smith sends hosts for a toss

On a day rich in irony and metaphor, the truth was out there in black and white: India were steamrolled by the pace of Pollock and the power...

On a day rich in irony and metaphor, the truth was out there in black and white: India were steamrolled by the pace of Pollock and the power of Smith. Forget the pitch, forget the crowd, forget the man who wasn8217;t there; those were were outplayed, plain and simple.

Once again, though, the match was probably decided by the toss, which went to Graeme Smith. On a wicket that had a faint tinge of green, he had no hesitation in opting to field first. Makhaya Ntini was down with a stomach bug, but the South Africans still had enough firepower in Shaun Pollock, Andre Nel, Charl Langeveldt, Andrew Hall and Jacques Kallis to exploit the seamer-friendly conditions.

The Indians, on the other, must have misread the pitch given that they chose Murali Karthik as the super sub, obviously believing that batting first would be the wiser option, a point also made by the curator. In the end, the Indians did bat first on a greenish top. Chappell continued with his much-vaunted experiments, pushing Irfan Pathan to open the innings with Gautam Gambhir. Touted as an all-rounder in the making, Pathan lasted two balls before playing on. Pollock used the conditions superbly, sticking to a good line and length as usual, and let the pitch do the rest.

The ball had good carry and the Indians were rocked on to the backfoot early on. Yesterday, Dravid had singled out Pollock as one of the finest medium-pacers in the game8217;s history and today his teammates found out why.

Tendulkar, in his record 357th match, was out for a third consecutive time on 2, edging an away-swinger to Mark Boucher behind the stumps. Gambhir joined him in the dressing room soon after doing likewise.

Maybe the jeers were still ringing in his ears when Dravid played all over a Charl Langeveldt delivery after Virender Sehwag showed that patience and footwork are really not his forte and, at 71 for five, the South Africans were on top. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif tried to resurrect the innings, but the dice refused to roll the Indian8217;s way in front of an unfriendly crowd and in alien conditions.

The second half belonged to Smith, whose 134 runs came off 124 balls with 20 fours and a six. With Hall a willing, if almost anonymous, accomplice, the Safs skipper gave India no chance. His team now have the momentum 8212; and the lead 8212; going into the last match in Mumbai on Monday.

SCOREBOARD

	nbsp;	India G Gambhir c Smith b pollock 11 I Pathan b Pollock 0 Tendulkar c Boucher b Pollock 2 V Sehwag c Boucher b Hall 30 R Dravid b Langeveldt 6 Y Singh lbw Botha 53 M Kaif c Smith b Nel 46 M S Dhoni c Botha b Hall 14 A Agarkar b Kallis 11 H Singh lbw Hall 0 RP Singh not out 1 Extras lb-5 nb-1 w-8: 14 Total all out, 45.5 overs: 188 Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-14, 3-23, 4-49, 5-71, 6-152, 7-167, 8-187, 9-187, 10-188 Bowling: S Pollock 10-4-25-3, A Nel 10-1-35-1, A Hall 6.5-0-36-3, C Langeveldt 8-1-33-1, J Kallis 4-0-20-1, J Botha 5-0-21-1, A Morkel 2-0-13-0 Story continues below this ad South Africa G Smith not out 134 A Hall not out 48 Extras nb-3 w-4 7 Total for no loss, 35.5 overs 189 Bowling: A Agarkar 5-0-41-0, I Pathan 6-0-28-0, RP Singh 4-0-18-0, H Singh 10-0-37-0, M Kartik 8-1-52-0, V Sehwag 2.5-0-13-0 Man-of-the-match: G Smith	nbsp;