South Africa hit back as India play good hosts |
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Sunday March 30, 02:11 AM
Virender Sehwag's hopes of getting past Brian Lara's world record 400 not out lasted less than half-an-hour on Saturday morning, but his 319 had set up the first Test match for an interesting finish.
The South African attack, clobbered and clueless, was looking down the barrel, waiting for the arrival of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly - not to mention Rahul Dravid, who as usual was putting a big price on his wicket. India were looking in good shape to force a result, but Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn had other ideas.
South Africa opted for the second new ball in the very first over of the day and Ntini, bowling a tight line outside the off-stump, had Sehwag caught at first slip in the sixth over of the day. The silence that enveloped the stands at Sehwag's dismissal didn't last long, Sachin Tendulkar walking into the middle to a roar of thousands looking for entertainment. However, for the second time in three overs, their hopes were dashed as Tendulkar nudged one from the wide-shouldered South African to second slip.
These early wickets were just the boost the visitors needed after having spent Friday chasing leather.
Sourav Ganguly made a promising, even if flashy, start but fell trying to cut Paul Harris, Mark Boucher latching on to the bottom-edge.
At the other end, Dravid had gone past the 10,000-run mark before trudging along to his 25th Test century. But he fell in the second session, Ntini once again inducing an edge to second slip.
MS Dhoni walked in, and despite an audacious reverse sweep early in his knock, failed to up the tempo with VVS Laxman.
Ntini had done the early damage and Dale Steyn now got into the act. The wicket of Dhoni, in particular, was a gem. The speedster bowled a short one to Dhoni, who charged out and ducked at the last moment. Trying to second-guess the bowler, he danced down the pitch again and this time, the short ball from Steyn kissed his glove through to Boucher. The rest of the batting folded up in a hurry.
The Indian innings ended at 627. Sehwag got 319 off 304, while the rest of them managed 308 off 931 deliveries.
As Steyn said at the end of the day, it wasn't that the pitch behaved any differently on Day Four.
"It is difficult bowling here. The pitch doesn't assist you much and we are not used to the SG balls being used here. So it's a whole new experience. Sehwag batted unbelievably yesterday and we respect that. But today, we didn't let the batsmen settle down early," he said.
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