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Hashim Amla brought up his first hundred against India as South Africa continued to dominate
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A chanceless 159 from Hashim Amla, buttressed by vital contributions from
Mark Boucher and AB de Villiers, was the springboard for South Africa to
dominate the first two sessions of the second day, but India's openers
then inflicted some punishment of their own on a dozy pitch where the
bowlers were seldom more than peripheral players. By the time stumps were
drawn, with four of the scheduled 90 overs still to be bowled, India had
knocked off 82 in pursuit of an imposing South African total.
Amla's superb innings spanned 262 balls and ended only with a run
out, but there was still time for Boucher, who made 70, and Morne Morkel,
with a brisk 35, to flog sagging spirits before Harbhajan Singh returned
to mop up the tail and finish with 5 for 164. The 100 minutes of batting
that India faced had the potential to be tricky, but Sehwag's insouciance
and Jaffer's elegance made light of the challenge posed by a three-man
pace attack.
Sehwag started with a crisp cover-drive for four before rocking back to
carve Makhaya Ntini over third man for six. A magnificent square drive off
Dale Steyn and a couple of rasping cuts also roused the crowd, and Jaffer
was quick to follow suit at the other end.
There was a gorgeous on-drive off Steyn, and an unexpected slap over third
man for six as Ntini again dropped short. The first 10 overs produced 47
runs, and though Ntini and Morkel exerted more control in the final hour,
Sehwag still found time to slash over point and drive languidly through
the covers on his way to a half-century from just 59 balls.
The run glut helped India forget a wretched fielding display, with runs
leaked in every conceivable fashion. After 19 had been conceded in
the opening three overs, the new ball was taken. There was no immediate
reward, though both Amla and de Villiers were extremely fortunate to see
thick outside edges fall short of the slip cordon and speed to the rope at
third man.
There was nothing fortuitous, however, about the three gorgeous
cover-drives with which Amla, unbeaten on 85 overnight, reached his
hundred. Sreesanth, as he had on the opening day, tried to do too much,
and Amla cashed in with superb timing. He reached his century in 173
balls, and India's plight then got worse as de Villiers cut and pulled the
insipid RP Singh for fours.
With such tripe being dished out, it was hard to see where a breakthrough
would come from, but Anil Kumble kept faith in Sreesanth and was soon
rewarded for it. After a couple of entirely unnecessary sledges in the
direction of de Villiers, Sreesanth suddenly remembered that wickets are
taken with the ball and not the mouth. A superb delivery just outside off
stump induced the edge and Dhoni dived to his right to hold-on.
With the fast bowlers leaking runs, Kumble turned to the medium pace of
Sourav Ganguly. The over-rate was abysmal and wasn't helped by a ball
change and frequent consultations with the fielders, and Sreesanth's luck
too ran out as Boucher edged one and then survived a huge leg-before shout
courtesy the thinnest of inside edges.
By the time Kumble pressed himself into the attack with Harbhajan, South Africa had cruised past 400, and it only got worse on a real dog-day afternoon for the home side.
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Mark Boucher helped himself to a fluent 70
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Amla's grip on proceedings was absolute, and with RP and Sreesanth
providing comical examples of how not to stop the ball in the outfield,
the scoreboard ticked along merrily. The ease with which the runs came was
embarrassing and Kumble was reduced to bowling into the pads from round
the wicket to try and limit the damage.
Sreesanth was brought back for another burst, but both batsmen continued
to cut and nudge at will on a pitch that might as well have been a fluffy
pillow. In such situations, the fielding side can only pray and any divine
entreaties were answered with Amla being run out. Boucher played the ball
into the vicinity of Sreesanth at cover and though he threw to the wrong
end, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was alert enough to rifle the ball through to
Kumble, who did the rest.
Amla, whose ancestors went to the Cape from Surat a few generations ago,
left to a richly deserved standing ovation, but India's misery was far
from over. Morkel was gifted a full toss by Sreesanth to get off the mark,
and two confident off-drives further ruined RP's woeful afternoon. Boucher
and Morkel stretched the partnership to 54 before Boucher's attempt to
swipe Sehwag over midwicket ballooned off the top edge to Rahul Dravid
behind the stumps.
Morkel then chipped a return catch to Harbhajan and it was left to Steyn
to swell the total a little more with some hefty slogs, the pick of which
was an impudent reverse-slog-sweep off Harbhajan. Harris, reprieved
earlier after gloving one to slip, was caught behind, and Harbhajan then
had Steyn caught in the deep to end the innings. By then though, India
were playing catch-up.
Dileep Premachandran is an associate editor at Cricinfo