De villiers, Kallis feast on india |
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Saturday April 5, 01:20 AM
Ahmedabad, April 4: AB De Villiers served the Indians an object lesson in Test batting at Motera on Friday. Pacing his innings brilliantly, the middle order batsman crafted the first double hundred by a South African against India to remain unbeaten on a well-compiled 217 (333 balls, 17x4, 2x6, 2x5) when heavy rain forced play to be called off an hour before the scheduled close. By then, the visitors were 494/7, an overall lead of 418 runs.
In a 256-run stand with de Villiers, Jacques Kallis also made the best use of a good pitch and an attack that lacked bite to get a century that took him past Donald Bradman’s tally of 29 Test centuries.
In total contrast to the opening day, the bat held sway over the ball all of Friday. The very first over was a comment on the benign state of the pitch. Three of the six balls that Irfan Pathan delivered from the far end were collected on the second bounce by M.S. Dhoni.
With a cloud cover in place, Anil Kumble may have done well to bring on Sreesanth from the pavilion end but he thrust the ball on Harbhajan Singh. The atmospheric help that was available went unutilised. To his credit, the off-spinner bowled well and almost had Kallis when he was on 72, the ball rolling on to the stumps quite hard but the bails refused to fall.
Kallis and de Villiers dug in for a long vigil and the fielding went slack with the effort lacking intensity. Kallis used the sweep to good effect, also taking the leg before out of the equation by stretching to beyond off stump to use the stroke. With spin not bringing results, the new ball was taken in the 82nd over.
It was Test match batting at its best as the batsmen played the bowling strictly on merit. The only shot that was not quite in the Test book was the paddle sweep to fine leg de Villiers played off Sourav Ganguly to bring his fifth Test hundred.
Sreesanth ran in hard, worked up good pace and probed the batsmen consistently outside the off-stump. He was unlucky when Doctrove did not uphold his appeal against Kallis for a leg-before shout. It was a grand effort. R.P. Singh beat the bat and that had more to do with the ball keeping low rather than any movement achieved with the new ball. Singh was also guilty of keeping it a touch short. Just when it looked Sreesanth had run out of steam he had Kallis playing on to his stumps.
The 256-run stand for the fifth wicket was the highest by South Africa for any wicket against India.
Mark Boucher was his usual assured self, collecting runs against an attack that was wearing thin. Kumble did not bowl much till the tea break with the niggle that made him a doubtful starter being the reason. Against the run of play Kumble trapped Boucher in front. The South African keeper paid the price for playing back to a delivery of fullish length.
De Villiers was precise with his footwork. He was either fully forward or back. For a player who started his career as an opener he has made his place in the middle order for good. In the process of unwinding for a massive hit off Harbhajan over mid-wicket, de Villiers over balanced and tumbled yet managed to send the ball soaring on to the roof. The six also helped him surpass his previous highest Test score. De Villiers toyed with the attack under a gunmetal sky and Paul Harris provided him company. Runs in the last hour came in torrents much like the rain that followed. It was a forgettable day for India no doubt. To make up for lost time, match referee Roshan Mahanama said play will begin at 9am on Saturday and the day’s quota would be 98 overs.
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