S Sreesanth, without all his histrionics, may not be the bowler he is but the India pacer is often found guilty of misplaced priorities. He appears to give more importance to theatrics than bowling. On Tuesday, he was in danger of losing the plot once again but Greame Smith played into his hands and handed India a chance to bounce back into the second Test.
The South Africa captain allowed himself to be provoked by Sreesanth’s dramatics and fell prey to the pacer after raising his bat at him. Smith’s wicket led to two more, one by Sreesanth himself, and gave India a realistic chance to register the biggest Test win of the year.
India now need seven more wickets with a reasonably formidable total to defend, thanks to a VVS Laxman special. When bad light stopped play for the third time in as many days, South Africa were at 111 for three. They need 192 more but under the prevailing conditions, putting money on South Africa could be as wise an investment as betting on Farah Khan to bag the best director’s award for Tees Maar Khan venture. But then you never know…
Smith batted with a lot of aggression and avoided falling to his nemesis Zaheer Khan who, surprisingly, had an off day with the ball. The South Africa captain hit the India spearhead for a few fours and the team’s total raced past 60 in no time. But Sreesanth, who came first change, stuck in his fourth over forcing Smith to sky a pull at 63.
With his tail up, Sreesanth bowled with a lot of verve and vivacity and scalped danger man Hashim Amla soon before Harbhajan Singh sent back the other opener Alviro Petersen at the other end.
The three South African wickets capped a good day for India but it could have been much better if Murali Vijay had latched on to a catch from Jacques Kallis off Harbhajan.
Earlier, the visitors, notably Laxman, batted with a lot of defiance and determination. Typically, Laxman rallied around the Indian tail-enders and gave the side a formidable total. He stood up to the bounce, pace, aggression and sledging of the hosts’ hostile pacers and helped the team set a target of 303.
A 70-run partnership for the eighth wicket with Zaheer meant that India crossed the 200-run mark. When Laxman was finally out at 96, trying to take a single to prevent last man Sreesanth from facing a full over, India’s total was 228.
Resuming at overnight 92 for four, India, who had taken a 74-run first innings lead, soon lost Cheteshwar Pujara but skipper MS Dhoni gave good support to Laxman and the two added 48 runs for the sixth wicket.
India now have a chance to prove that they are worthy of the world No 1 ranking. They also have a chance to establish that they can win on pacy and bouncy wickets. An exciting day’s play is expected on Wednesday but Indian fans would not mind if the team robs the match of excitement and makes it a straight-forward affair. Scoring 192 on this wicket is not easy. The Kingsmead Test is India’s to lose.
