South Africa Test: Hosts tighten the noose around India, takes lead of 230 runs

Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis scored unbeaten centuries as South Africa took complete control of the first cricket Test against a listless India by taking a substantial 230-run lead in Centurion on Friday.

After bundling out India in just three deliveries in the morning session for a paltry 136, South Africa then tightened the noose around the visitors by reaching a commanding 366 for two in 87 overs at stumps on the second day.

Amla (116 not out) and Kallis (102 not out) showed that there was no demon in the pitch and negotiated the Indian bowlers with consummate ease with an unbeaten 200-run third wicket stand, that came off just 282 balls, to give the upper hand to the Proteas in the series opener.

While Kallis brought up his 38th Test ton with a double off S Sreesanth, Amla reached the milestone - his 12th century - in style with a smashing pull off Ishant Sharma.

Alviro Petersen (77) and Greame Smith (62), were the other notable contributors for the Proteas who relied on Morne Morkel's career-best figures of five for 20 and Dale Steyn (3/34) to demolish India's famed batting line-up.

Resuming at the precarious overnight score of 136 for nine, the visitors failed to add any run to their total as Morkel got rid of India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (33) in the third ball of the day.

Dhoni was hit on the pad to a delivery that appeared to be going down the leg side, but the Indian captain walked even before the umpire had raised his finger.

With three full days left in the match, the hosts will now seek to bury the Indians under a mountain of runs and then go for the kill.

The South Africans got a solid start through captain Graeme Smith and Alviro Petersen while the other batsmen also stuck to their tasks admirably to put the home team in a commanding position.

Smith and Petersen seemed to be in no discomfort at all against the Indian seamers who failed to extract any movement from the SuperSport Park track.

The pair put on 111 runs for the first wicket before off-spinner Harbhajan Singh provided the breakthrough by evicting the dangerous Smith in the last over before lunch, much to the relief of the Indians.

The South African captain attempted to cut a ball that drifted onto the left hander but only succeeded in edging it to Dhoni behind the stumps. His knock of 62 came off 87 balls and contained 11 boundaries.

With the sun shining brightly, the Indian bowlers hardly looked penetrative, unlike their South African counterparts who exploited the seaming conditions with devastating effect yesterday.

Smith and Petersen started cautiously but gradually opened up to unleash some fluent strokes on both sides of the wicket.

Sreesanth and Ishant bowled a tidy opening spell but hardly looked menacing as they did not have the pace to torment the Protea batsmen on the track which had some bounce.

Debutant Jaidev Unandkat was introduced into the attack in the seventh over of the innings and the experienced Smith welcomed him by spanking his third ball to the boundary.

Peterson, who appeared circumspect early on in his innings, played his first attacking shot by hooking Sharma to the square leg fence. He gradually grew in confidence to hit a few more boundaries.

After the first 10 overs, Smith and Petersen stepped up the accelerator as they despatched the loose deliveries to the boundary with ease.

As the innings wore on, Petersen seemed more and more confident and even singled out Harbhajan Singh for special treatment, lifting the off-spinner for a mighty six.

Just when it looked like the two openers would go unseperated into lunch, Harbhajan got into the act by getting the vital wicket of Smith, who notched up his 29th half century in Test cricket.

Resuming at the lunch score of 111 for one, Petersen and and Hashim Amla put on 55 runs for the second wicket before Harbhajan Singh struck for his team again.

Harbhajan plotted Petersen's dismissal as he flighted the ball on middle and leg stump. The right-hander got half-forward to defend and got an inside edge onto pad for Gambhir to take a smart catch at forward short leg but not before completing his third Test half century.

Petersen looked quite comfortable in the middle till this blemish. His knock of 77 came off 114 balls and was laced with nine boundaries and a six.

The Indian bowlers lacked the sting in the post-lunch session as well and barring Harbhajan, who managed to get the odd ball to jump up, none of them really looked like getting a wicket.

The Indian pacemen got no movement whatsoever in the session and the absence of pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who is sitting out of the match because of a hamstring injury, was badly felt.

Shortly after stepping onto to the crease, Amla also made his intentions clear by clobbering Harbhajan for a six and was not afraid to play the sweep shot to balls pitched outside the off-stump.

Jacques Kallis joined the action after Petersen's dismissal and the experienced right hander got into the run scoring business by pounding Sreesanth to the boundary.

Indian captain Dhoni introduced part-timer Suresh Raina into the attack in place of Harbhajan and he turned out to be really expensive with Kallis smashing him for two sixes. He onceded 23 runs in his two overs.

When Kallis reached 30, he completed 1000 runs in the year 2010 during which he played 10 Tests for an impressive average of 70.62.

The Indians just did not have the bowling resources to pose any problems for the hosts who set the platform for a mammoth first innings total.