Jan. 2: India looked to have sealed all escape routes at the start – skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni finally won the toss and rightly chose to bowl first under murky skies, his pacers delivered the initial breakthroughs, and intermittent rain ensured that the South African batsmen were never allowed to fully settle down.

But as the day wore on, the clouds were slowly swept away by the south-easterly, the floodlights were switched off and the sun baked down to reveal a dry flat batting surface. And from 34/2, South Africa recovered, ambling up to 232/4 by close on a rain-curtailed Day One of the third Test against India.

Middle-order rock Jacques Kallis (81 not out, 169b), having survived the testing first half of the day, flourished later. He added 72 and 58 for with Hashim Amla (59) and AB de Villiers (26) for the third and fourth wickets respectively in a 28-over period from lunch and tea, before stitching an unbeaten 68-run partnership with No. 6 Ashwell Prince (batting 28) from tea till stumps. This being his home ground, Kallis knew exactly what to do. He has collected six centuries from 17 Tests before this game, and looked set for one more, capitalising on full-pitched balls from Zaheer Khan and Co. with a flurry of cover drives.

The only time he was in trouble the whole day was during one Ishant Sharma spell in the morning. The pacer had removed Alviro Petersen just after the first hour-long rain break, and came steaming to unleash a couple of short-length deliveries. One climbed ferociously at Kallis, and was just an inch away from the hanging Kallis’s bat.

South Africa’s position would have been greatly enhanced had Amla still been there. He was the one who eased the pressure on Kallis, launching into Sreesanth with a top-edged six to fine leg to bring up his fifty. But after a sprightly knock, he gave his wicket away, with the kind of loose stroke the South Africans have been wanting to avoid in the aftermath of their defeat in the second Test in Durban.

There was another delay when the umpires took the players from the field for bad light at 2.20pm, but that break lasted just 30 minutes, and when they resumed Amla took over. He launched into the very first over after that break punishing Zaheer Khan, by some distance India’s best bowler, for three fours. Runs flowed in a 35-minute period with Amla totally dominant. South Africa scored 44 runs in seven overs, Amla went to a 50, and the momentum of the day was heading in the home team’s favour. And then Amla played a loose shot, pulling Sreesanth, to Cheteshwar Pujara, at deep square leg for 59, that included nine fours and a six.

After Amla’s dismissal, Kallis took over. Runs came at a lesser pace, but Indians could not manage to winkle out a wicket. Earlier, rain curtailed the first morning with only 44 minutes of play possible, which was enough time for Zaheer Khan to remove Graeme Smith. The veteran left hand seamer, who got the ball moving through the air both ways and beat both openers, Smith and Petersen on several occasions, outside the off-stump.

The delivery which eventually dismissed Smith was a beauty that looked to be moving away from the left-hander but which instead, kept coming straight at him, hitting the South African captain on the back leg in line with his off-stump.

SCOREBOARD
South Africa Ist Innings

A. Petersen c Dhoni b Ishant Sharma 21, G. Smith lbw b Zaheer Khan 6, H. Amla c Pujara b Sreesanth 59, J. Kallis batting 81, A. De Villiers c Dhoni b Sreesanth 26, A. Prince batting 28
Extras (b1, lb5, nb5) 11
Total (in 74 overs) 232/4
FoW: 1-17, 2-34, 3-106, 4-164
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 19-4-62-1 (nb2), Sreesanth 21-0-70-2 (nb1), Ishant Sharma 16-2-39-1 (nb2), Harbhajan Singh 18-1-55-0.