Ind SA T 2 Day 5: Amla's Second Century Heroics Cannot Deny India no.1 in Thrilling Finish

Sreelata YellamrazuFeb 18 2010

Ashwell Prince, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy. The three men who South Africa were desperate must fire. One of them could have done the trick for the visitors. But Hashim Amla has been, for the most part, the sole hand of the South African sojourn in India. And it has proved to be their undoing as India climb to the top of the ICC Test rankings once again.

hashim amla second century at eden

On the eve of the fifth and final day of the second Test of the India South Africa series in Eden Gardens, Kolkata, Jacques Kallis expressed optimism that South Africa could see out the remaining 90 overs of the match. No one doubted they ability, only that the middle order had failed to fire for South Africa in the first innings and it had paved the way for India to climb all over them.

From three down overnight, Prince did bide time in the morning with Amla but perhaps there was a need for the former to play an even longer role in such a desperate scenario. But Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra rarely missed a trick on this occasion as another four wickets went down quickly. Down went Prince, AB, JP and Dale Steyn.

amit mishra

In rather remarkable fashion, Amla played on as if the team was under no pressure. His stature has only grown on this series and yet again, in classic timeless fashion, Amla pressed on and progressed.

India, who had sensed an early wrap after lunch, with South Africa having just three wickets left, were frustrated on two counts. One was Hashim Amla refused to see any threat, intimidation from the opposition, the pitch or the situation. And the second one, was the gritty partnership between Amla and Wayne Parnell for the eighth wicket.

harbhajan singh dhoni delighted

Parnell hung onto the task like glue while Amla moved on to pick up a deserving second century in the match. Parnell's contribution in the seventy run partnership may have been just twenty-two but runs were not of concern, time was. South Africa did not have the benefit of the weather on the fifth day though many predicted it would play a spoilsport. But the partnership ensured there was a great lesson of patience for the Indians even as South Africa moved onto tea safe.

Parnell eventually went down to a loose shot off Ishant Sharma who picked up his first of the innings, while Zaheer Khan did not take the field at all.

But the drama was far from over. Paul Harris lasted a while to delay it but time was not short strangely when the sun set early on all other days of the Test.

Morne Morkel joined Amla at the crease and what followed next was simply unbelievable. The duo batted for the better part of an hour, played over a 100 deliveries and almost snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat. It was seriously exceptional efforts from Hashim Amla but it was even more incredible to have Morkel fight it ball after ball, over after over.

Such was the time at India's disposal that even the mandatory overs were spent, so were Dhoni's options, but the sun would not set and the time still showed at least fifteen minutes before before the scheduled close. Amla remained unbeaten in the colossal effort but Harbhajan Singh had to finish with five wickets and sadly, Morne's vigilance was broken with a lbw as India won by an innings and fifty-eight runs.

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