Defiant Ganguly digs in for India |
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Saturday April 5, 03:28 PM
By Sanjay Rajan
AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - India's Saurav Ganguly thwarted South Africa's charge for victory in the second test with an undefeated half century on Saturday.
Left-handed Ganguly hit 59 and shared in a 66-run stand for the unbroken fifth wicket with Mahendra Singh Dhoni (28). South Africa had declared their first innings closed at 494-7 before play began after accumulating a massive lead of 418 runs.
The home team were 191 for four at the break and remain 227 runs behind.
South Africa's fast bowlers rattled the top order in the morning, grabbing three wickets before Morne Morkel dismissed Vangipurappu Laxman for 35 in the second session.
But Ganguly and Dhoni hung on in a determined manner, showing the approach which was missing in the first innings when India were bundled out for 76 in the first session.
Spearhead Dale Steyn turned on the heat in the afternoon, bowling at searing pace and testing Dhoni with a series of short-pitched deliveries and even striking the batsman on the body once.
But Dhoni survived the testing period and saw off almost 24 overs in the company of his former captain.
Dhoni was lucky to be let off by Makhaya Ntini at the fine leg fence when he miscued a hook while on 18.
Openers Virender Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer and batting mainstay Rahul Dravid were all undone by a South Africa pace attack that made good use of helpful conditions in the morning.
The start was delayed by 30 minutes due to damp conditions from overnight showers but once play resumed, India were soon in trouble.
Sehwag, who scored the fastest recorded triple century in the high-scoring drawn first test in Chennai last week, fell cheaply for a second time in the match.
The aggressive opener struck Steyn for two sixes in the very first over but was then trapped lbw by Makhaya Ntini playing a half-hearted forward push.
Dravid, who reached 10,000 test runs in the opening match, and Jaffer (19) batted cautiously before both fell in the space of six runs.
Dravid (17) failed to keep a short ball from Morkel down and edged to the slip cordon. Two overs later Jaffer edged Jacques Kallis to the same area for AB de Villiers to take his second catch of the day.
Laxman batted fluently and put on 55 for the fourth wicket with Ganguly before edging behind.
The third and final test of the series begins in Kanpur on April 11.
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