Resting on laurels: The familiar Indian story

It's an indicator of how well South Africa have come back in this Test match that the best India can hope for after three days severely curtailed by bad light is a draw. Along with appreciation for the manner in which Ashwell Prince and others led the revival, India need to introspect, especially when it comes to another dreadfully disappointing batting performance away from home.

Being bowled out in 77.5 overs, and that too when the pitch was at its best for batting, is inexcusable. But for a courageous go-forth-and-plunder innings from Sreesanth, they would have conceded far more than an 88-run handicap, and the manner in which the middle order lost its way this morning would have brought back uncomfortable memories of countless such capitulations away from the comfort zone.

It was somewhat ironic that it was the man who made batting look easiest that erred first. Sachin Tendulkar played some scintillating shots during the course of his 63, but his attempt to get a little too cute against Makhaya Ntini started the slide. And when Sourav Ganguly stood frozen like a Pompeii victim after fending one off to gully, old chestnuts about Indians and frailty against pace were well and truly roasting on the fire.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni flayed a few fours while always looking like a man who would die by the sword, and his banzai approach was in stark contrast to that of VVS Laxman, who pottered around for just 18 runs in an extended opening session. When Dhoni finally gave Mornè Morkel the first of what might be many Test wickets, Laxman had made just 26 from 111 balls, and though he quickened up thereafter, he wasn't exactly urgency personified in a situation that demanded it.

To be fair to him, the bowlers weren't exactly bowling half-volleys. Most of the bouncers sailed way over his head, and other deliveries leapt into the keeper's gloves from a line that was well outside off stump. Even when he did put bat to ball, he was nothing like as fluent as he can be, struggling to pierce the inner ring or tap-and-run the singles to rotate the strike. Of the 123 dot balls that he played, only 28 were completely ignored, and nothing came of the others.

The lack of initiative was especially disappointing because South Africa have vivid nightmares of a late-order shepherding job that decided a Test match. Exactly a year ago, a certain Michael Edward Killeen Hussey had idled to 27 off 94 balls when Australia lost their ninth wicket in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test. Soon after, Jacques Kallis spilled a chest-high chance at second slip, just the sort of wake-up call that Mr Cricket needed to embark on one of the most astonishing rearguard actions ever seen.

Glenn McGrath kept out 56 balls for his 11, but all eyes were on Hussey as he went from tortoise to Speedy Gonzales in a partnership that realised 107 priceless runs. Hussey's final tally was 122 from 203 balls faced. Laxman today finished on an even 50 from 156. You do the numbers.

Bad light and thunderstorms - since readmission, Durban has seen 28 Test-match days where even 82 overs were not completed - may yet save Indian face in this game, and the onus is on Graeme Smith to force the pace on Friday. Given the situation with the light, South Africa would want to leave themselves at least four sessions to get at the Indians.

Having surrendered a Sydney Test by giving Australia less than 300 to get, a similarly generous declaration is unlikely. That leaves a scenario where the South African batsmen will have to go through their repertoire of shots once they survive initial spells from Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan. If the conditions remain as overcast as they were today, it won't be easy.

After ignominious defeat at the Wanderers though, you sense that Smith and his boys don't have the luxury of the conservative option. As far as this game is concerned, it was a great pity that India exercised theirs.