Barring a collapse, India should enter the home stretch of the three-Test series in the ascendancy. Unbeaten knocks from Gautam Gambhir (65) and Sachin Tendulkar (49) put the visitors just ahead of South Africa after the momentum had lurched violently from one end to the other for most of the day in the third and final Test at Newlands here on Monday.

At close on Day Two, India were steady at 142/2 with the duo having put on an unbroken 114-run stand for the third wicket in the face of some testing bowling from Dale Steyn and Co. They are miles behind South Africa’s 362 in the first innings that had been constructed solely on the shoulders of Jacques Kallis’ 161, but could easily have been in further trouble, having lost their first two wickets with 28 on board.

India were well ahead at the start though, with Shanthakumaran Sreesanth (5/114) adding three more wickets to his two of Day One, and looked set to run through the line up. But Kallis played magnificently and, once again, was the mainstay of the South African batting line-up. His 52-run partnership with tail-ender Lonwabo Tsotsobe frustrated the Indian attack before Zaheer Khan eventually had the all-rounder caught behind to close out the innings.

The Indians, in reply, lost Virender Sehwag (13) and Rahul Dravid (5) shortly before tea to leave the game in the balance, before the Gambhir-Tendulkar combine soothed frayed nerves. Tendulkar’s only scare came on 24 when left-arm spinner Paul Harris thought he had trapped him lbw but umpire Simon Taufel gave the batsman the benefit of the doubt with replays showing the ball would have hit the outside of leg stump.

Gambhir too was dropped on 60, but both batsmen displayed impressive resolve to thwart South Africa’s three-pronged seam attack offered assistance by the pitch and by the ball

Earlier, Sreesanth had made the breakthrough India desperately needed with the ground bathed in sunshine and a light south-easterly tipped to favour the batsmen.

Kallis, 81 not out overnight and Ashwell Prince (28) resumed the South African innings on 232/4 and the pair looked comfortable, adding 30 runs to the total in the first few overs. Sreesanth, however, with his 1980’s John McEnroe hairstyle, bowled superbly with the second new ball and took two wickets with consecutive deliveries in his first over of the morning.

Following a ball which seamed away, he got one to curve in the air. Prince (47) tried to drive the ball but it cut back at him and crashed into his off stump.

With his next delivery, Mark Boucher didn’t stand a chance. The ball seamed away from him and clipped the outside edge of his bat. Sreesanth wasn’t finished yet, but he could do nothing to prevent Kallis scoring his 39th Test century. The veteran South African drew level with Australia’s Ricky Ponting and remains second only to Sachin Tendulkar’s 50 career tons.

SCOREBOARD
South Africa 1st Innings
(overnight 232-4)
A. Petersen c Dhoni b Sharma 21, G. Smith lbw b Khan 6, H. Amla c Pujara b Sreesanth 59, J. Kallis c Dhoni b Khan 161, A. de Villiers c Dhoni b Sreesanth 26, A. Prince b Sreesanth 47, M. Boucher c Dhoni b Sreesanth 0, D. Steyn c Pujara b Khan 0, M. Morkel c Dhoni b Sreesanth 8, P. Harris c Pujara b Sharma 7, L. Tsotsobe not out 8.
Extras (b-1, lb-6, nb-11, w-1) 19
Total (all out in 112.5 overs) 362
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-34, 3-106, 4-164, 5-262, 6-262, 7-272, 8-283, 9-310.
Bowling: Khan 29.5-6-89-3, Sreesanth 29-0-114-5 , Sharma 27-6-77-2, Harbhajan Singh 27-3-75-0.
india 1st Innings
G. Gambhir n.o. 65, V. Sehwag c Smith b Steyn 13, R. Dravid run out (De Villiers) 5, S. Tendulkar n.o. 49. Extras (lb-8, nb-1, w-1) 10
Total (in 50 overs) 142/2
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-28.
Bowling: Steyn 13-4-31-1, Morkel 14-3-46-0, Tsotsobe 12-3-28-0, Harris 11-2-29-0.