Kallis sets fine example

If only South Africa had one more Kallis, they wouldn't have finished on the losing side today. He did most things right as an individual but didn't receive much support from his team-mates. He won the toss on a surface where dew was expected to play a role later in the evening and enforced the bowling changes to pick up wickets every time India threatened to get too far ahead. And when he came to bat, he again did most things right he dealt in singles initially, put away the bad balls to the boundary and tried to pull of some big shots in the end but the stiff target proved too much for him.

Kallis was the only one who handled the fine spell from Jadeja with any measure of comfort. Jadeja suffocated the South African batsmen with a series of arm-deliveries that tended to skid on this wicket. Even AB de Villiers was suffocated by the disciplined lines and was bowled, trying an injudicious cut shot to a full delivery from Jadeja. However, Kallis settled down against Jadeja after a couple of edgy pushes and played him with the full bat-face. He punched Praveen Kumar on the up and cut Sreesanth to collect boundaries and as the rate went up, he stepped up with couple of big blows. He lifted Yusuf Pathan for a six over long-off but the pressure grew on him and he fell, going for yet another big hit.