Jan. 5: India were made to feel on Wednesday what the Aussies had gone through in Mohali, the Kiwis in Ahmedabad and the Proteas in Durban over the last few months. Struck on the right side of his chest during a marathon 161 in the first innings, South Africa’s one-man army Jacques Kallis (109 not out) battled pain, odds and a cracking pitch to give the visitors a taste of V.V.S. Laxman’s medicine.

His 280-ball effort yanked his side from a potentially-losing position at 130/6 to a one where they are now favourites to win going into the final day of this fascinating game at Newlands.

Kallis’ 103-run partnership with wicketkeeper-batsman Mark Boucher for the seventh wicket sapped the morale of the Indians. With South Africa bowled out for 341, India need 340 to win on Day Five of the third and final Test here and would want their own Laxman to nullify Kallis’s knock.

With the series level at 1-1, a successful chase here will hand India their first Test series victory on South African soil.

It is, however, an onerous task considering the pitch is breaking up very quickly under the hot sun, and is expected to produce uneven bounce. The highest successful chase in South Africa was achieved by Australia in 2002, the Steve Waugh-led side managing to overhaul 334-run target.

Harbhajan Singh utilised the conditions splendidly, taking a 7 for 120, but did not find much support from the other end. The intensity was missing from the pacers with a struggling Zaheer Khan, bowling 10 kmph lesser than his usual speed after lunch, Ishant Sharma dishing out wayward stuff the whole day and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth unable to generate swing for much of it.

Harbhajan almost turned the game on its head by ripping through South Africa’s middle-order. He caused early damage and had remarkable figures of 5-0-10-4 four overs into the day after he added the wickets of Alviro Petersen (22) and Hashim Amla (2) to the two he picked up late on Tuesday. Petersen went back into his crease and was lbw while a deflection off the pad and bat was the reason for Amla’s downfall.

Zaheer added to South Africa’s woes when he got rid of AB de Villiers for 13. Ashwell Prince (22) then gave his wicket away when he cut a wide one from Ishant straight to point. South Africa were flirting with disaster at 121/5 at lunch. The dismissal of Prince gave India the edge and they looked like they would finish the innings off sooner rather than later, but Kallis and Boucher stood firm. Although Kallis found it difficult to score runs immediately after the break due to his reductor injury, Boucher took some of the pressure off by putting the poor balls away.

SCOREBOARD
South Africa 1st innings: 362
India 1st innings: 364
South Africa 2nd innings: (o/n 52/2): Graeme Smith lbw b Harbhajan 29, Alviro Petersen lbw b Harbhajan 22, Paul Harris lbw b Harbhajan 0, Hashim Amla b Harbhajan 2, Jacques Kallis (not out) 109, AB de Villiers b Khan 13, Ashwell Prince c Sreesanth b Ishant 22, Mark Boucher lbw b Tendulkar 55, Dale Steyn c sub (Vijay) b Harbhajan 32, Morne Morkel c Sreesanth b Harbhajan 28 Lonwabo Tsotsobe c Sehwag b Harbhajan 8
Extras (lb-7, wd-2, nb-12) 21
Total (in 102 overs) 341
FoW: 1-50, 2-52, 3-53, 4-64, 5-98, 6-130, 7-233, 8-287, 9-333.
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 20-2-64-1, S Sreesanth 24-3-79-0, Ishant Sharma 18-1-62-1, Harbhajan Singh 38-1-120-7, Sachin Tendulkar 2-0-9-1.