Sachin lives to fight another day

Indian batsman had a reprieve when he was on 21. By the end of the day he had reached 46 taking India to 103 for 3

South Africa don’t owe Sachin Tendulkar any favours anymore. Now, they can only hope that he doesn’t gain as much from their ‘gesture’ as Ashwell Prince gained from Tendulkar’s little lapse on Tuesday.

The maestro was unbeaten on a delightfully compiled 46 (89b, 8x4) when bad light stopped play 31 minutes after tea on Wednesday. India finished at 103 for 3, with VVS Laxman (10) also at the crease.

Tendulkar, however, could have gone back to the pavilion about 12 overs earlier had South African skipper Graeme Smith, at first slip, not grassed an edge off Andrew Hall in the 27th over of the Indian innings. Tendulkar, at that time, was on 21 and India were 69 for 3.

The Smith fumble was the only chance, really, that the Indian offered the hosts in his close to two-and-a-quarter hour stay so far. A bruised thumb kept him away from the slips on Wednesday, but there was clearly no problem with holding the bat right. Classic drives, imperious pulls and deftly run singles were signs that uncertainty was a thing of yesterday. He is four short, now, of reaching the half-century mark - a place he hasn’t visited since December 10 last year, when he made his 35 th Test century against the Sri Lankans in New Delhi.

He came in early, in the tenth over, after India had a familiar start to their innings. Virender Sehwag perished in the penultimate ball of the first over, AB De Villiers taking a sharp, high catch to a slash off Andre Nel.

Wasim Jaffer, meanwhile, flattered to deceive in the two hours he batted. For a while it looked like it could be the match that turned his series around, as his captain has predicted on match eve. Rahul Dravid, however, couldn’t stay for long to egg his opener on to greater things, the captain falling for a mere 11. An hour later, De Villiers had pouched his second opener of the day, this time of Mkhaya Ntini, for 26.

Struggling at 61 for 3, the 71 runs that the last two South African wickets had added to their first innings total in the morning would have flashed back to haunt the Indians (see box for a bit of trivia). Morne Morkel in his debut Test may not have accomplished much with the ball, but his bat did a fair job. First, he helped the overnight star Ashwell Prince get to his century in a 39-run partnership with him. Then, after Prince finally fell at 121 (with the team score at 296), he and Mkhaya Ntini pushed the South African total to a healthy 328. Morkel remained unbeaten on 31.

However, there is no need for any alarm in the Indian ranks as of now.

The deficit, 38 overs into the Indian innings, is 225. Two good men are at the crease. Both played their part in the wonderful victory at the Wanderers. They’ll be hoping to do more than an encore here in Durban.

Scorecard

South Africa (1st innings; overnight: 257-8)

A Prince c Laxman b Sreesanth 121, M Morkel not out 31, M Ntini lbw b Kumble 16, Extras (lb-3 nb-14 w-1) 18, Total (all out, 91.3 overs) 328

FoW: 1-8, 2-13, 3-28, 4-122, 5-222, 6-256, 7-257, 8-257, 9-296, 10-328

Bowling: Z Khan 23-7-83-2, S Sreesanth 24-4-109-4, V Singh 13-1-60-1, A Kumble 28.3 -1-62- 3, S Ganguly 3-1-11-0

India (1st innings)

W Jaffer c AB de Villiers b Ntini 26, V Sehwag c AB de Villiers b Nel 0 R Dravid lbw b Nel 11, S Tendulkar batting 46, V Laxman batting10, Extras (lb-6 nb-3 w-1) 10, Total (for 3 wickets, 38.4 overs) 103

FoW: 1-5, 2-35, 3-61

Bowling: A Nel 12-2-26-2, M Ntini 8-4-12-1, M Morkel 6-0-33-0, S Pollock 8.4-6-6-0,  A Hall 4-0-20-0