South African hunters corner Indian tigers

At the other end, 25-year-old Kallis was a picture of intense concentration and poise as he tamed the twins terrors of a spiteful pitch and a dangerous-looking Kumble. Kallis’ heroics ensured that South Africa handed out Indians their first defeat in 12 years at the venue.

The Indians were always fighting a lost cause after their batsmen had sustained their insipid display from Australia right through the Test.

Resuming at 75 for five, the Indian innings crumbled within 74 minutes for the addition of a mere 38 runs. From then on it all boiled down to the South Africans’ abilities of taming the Kumble Effect.

Openers Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs provided an ideal platform for the second time in the match. Though Kumble got into the act by claiming them, Kallis and Hansie Cronje overcame the initial hiccups for a 31-run alliance.

The third wicket pair appeared to have gained total control of the proceedings before Cronje departed to the alacrity of Wasim Jaffer at forward short-leg.

The pendulum swung India’s way as Kumble and Karthik, bowling in tandem, prised out dangermen Lance Klusener and Shaun Pollock besides Pieter Strydom. It was a period when India raised visions of victory. However, Karthik’s failure to keep his nerves opened the floodgates for South Africa.

The run flow turned into a stream with the arrival of Boucher and there was little option for Tendulkar, who surprisingly didn’t chance his arm. “The regular bowlers were doing the job so I didn’t felt the need to bowl,” was his explanation later in the day.

Kallis overcame the lbw appeals that were turned down by umpire Srinivas Venkataraghavan off the first five balls he faced from Kumble and exhibited the right technique on the track. The day had begun ominously for the home team with Nayan Mongia suffering a finger injury during training. The think-tank’s decision of preparing Mongia for the S African pacemen, by peppering him with short-pitched deliveries, backfired when he was rapped on his right index finger. And by the time Mongia took treatment to remove the blood clot, he was walking in as the last man.

The Baroda skipper took the attack into the rival camp by slamming Cronje for a six over the bowler’s head and scored 19 of the 21-run association for the last-wicket with Karthik. The Indians, who had lost six wickets for 19 runs, looked unlikely to cross the three-figure mark.

Cronje triggered the slide with his lateral movement of the ball by claiming Kumble and Agarkar. Pollock, who gave nothing in the 20 balls he bowled on Saturday, accounted for Rahul Dravid, who was left waging a lone battle. In fact, Cronje expressed surprise at the manner in which the Indians surrendered meekly. “We were looking at chasing 200 but the Indians surprised me with their display.”

SCOREBOARD :

India (2nd innings; overnight 75-5)Wasim Jaffer c Klusener b Pollock (22b, 35m, 1×4) 6
(nudged an away going delivery)
Venkata Sai Laxman c Boucher b Donald (6b, 10m) 0
(failed to keep away from a snorter)
Rahul Dravid b Pollock (187m, 127b, 6×4) 37
(inside-edged a pull)
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 c Boucher b Cronje (29b, 36b) 4
(edged an away swinger)
Ajit Agarkar c Boucher b Cronje (18b, 24m) 3
(caugt in two minds to play a half-volley ended up edging)
Murali Kartik c Boucher b Pollock (23b, 33m) 2
(swung bat to a widish delivery, appeared not to have made contact but umpire ruled otherwise)
Javagal Srinath run out (2b, 5m) 0
(ran to the other end without paying attention to the batsman’s call)
Nayan Mongia not out (10b, 22m, 3×4, 1×6) 19
Extras: (lb 1, nb 1) 2
Total: (all out in 50.2 overs) 113
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Laxman, 2.5 overs), 2-13 (Jaffer, 8), 3-24 (Tendulkar 12), 4-73 (Ganguly, 24.5), 5-75 (Jadeja, 28.3), 6-80 (Kumble, 38), 7-92 (Agarkar, 43.5), 8-92 (Dravid, 44.4), 9-92 (Srinath, 45.3), 10-113 (Karthik, 50.2) Bowling: Donald 14-6-23-2, Pollock 12.2-6-24-4, Kallis 5-1-21-0, Cronje 12-5-23-3, Eksteen 7-3-21-0.

South Africa (2nd innings)
Gary Kirsten c Mongia b Kumble (52b, 72m, 1×4) 20
(gloved a leg-break)
Herschelle Gibbs c Dravid b Kumble (75b, 108m, 9×4) 46
(prodded to silli-point)
Jacques Kallis not out (129b, 191m, 5×4) 36
Hansie Cronje run out (Jaffer) (45b, 55m, 2×4) 13
(failed to regain crease after a defensive shot, forward short-leg threw down stumps)
Pieter Strydom c Ganguly b Kartik (12b, 16m) 3
(nudged a sharp turner to first slip)
Lance Klusener c Srinath b Kumble (15b, 13m) 1
(skied a top-spinner for mid-on to run backwards to take the catch)
Shaun Pollock lbw Kumble (18b, 23m, 1×4) 5
(beaten by top-spinner)
Mark Boucher not out (32b, 46m, 6×4) 27
Extras: (b 4, lb 9) 13
Total: (for 6 wickets, in 63 overs) 164
Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-76, 3-107, 4-110, 5-115, 6-128
Bowling: Srinath 11-3-26-0, Agarkar 4-1-15-0, Kumble 25-12-56-4, Kartik 19-5-50-1, Tendulkar 1-0-4-0

Results: South Africa won by four wickets

Man of the match: Sachin Tendulkar

Second Test: March 2-5 at Bangalore.