The no.1 Test team found to their chagrin that the sun chose to be benevolent on the hosts as South Africa built on a 230 run lead after only the second day of the first Test of the India South Africa series at the Super Sport Park in Centurion.
hashim amla jacques kallis
South Africa made quick work of the captain. Rather Morne Morkel picked up his fifth wicket of the innings by dismissing Mahendra Singh Dhoni as India bowed out in their first innings for a paltry 136 after the South African bowlers exploited the conditions to superlative advantage on the first day.
India though did not have the services of their spearhead, Zaheer Khan, ruled out before the first Test with a continuing groin and hamstring injury. Instead Jaidev Unadkat was handed the cap and it was left to the likes of Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma to inject India flavour into the proceedings.
Instead the Proteas stamped their authority all over the game with Graeme Smith, the South African captain, and Alviro Petersen providing a steady start to the South African innings. What ensued was a century run stand that quickly ran the Indians dry.
Ironically it was the off spinner, Harbhajan Singh who provided the double breakthrough by dismissing both the openers but not before they had brought South Africa to the brink of overhauling India's first innings total. Harbhajan struck on the deadly 111, making light work of Smith who scored sixty-two runs. Fifty-five runs later, Petersen followed having made seventy-seven runs as India began to see a ray of hope.
However, a back breaking partnership followed as Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla formed a formidable alliance to defy the Indians who struggled to find rhythm and the kind of incisiveness that the South African bowlers enjoyed.
Kallis and Amla slammed individual centuries as a reward for their patience at the crease on an unyielding pitch and a seemingly innocuous Indian bowling attack, clearly missing its teeth. The unbroken 200 run partnership has already put South Africa in the ascendancy with a lead of 230 and eight wickets still in hand. At 366 for two, South Africa will want to pile on more runs to keep the Indians down. But they will know the hard work with the ball must follow again if they are to keep the no.1 Test team out of the first Test.
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