India v South Africa Test: Back against the wall

If there were prison sentence for bad cricket shots, then Virender Sehwag should get 10 years in solitary confinement, said a South African commentator condemning the India opener’s reckless attempt against Dale Steyn in the first innings.

Sehwag may not have read or heard those harsh words but one is not sure if he ever should confess to the culpability of any cricketing offence.

Knowing the heavy returns that his style of batting brings in, Sehwag must be declared innocent of any ‘criminality’ despite playing an equally poor shot in the second innings.

The opener’s dismissal, after a brief flourish, nipped India’s chances of saving the Test in the bud although weather gods have raised the team’s fading hopes.

Clouds returned to waft across the SuperSport Park on Saturday afternoon but India’s flickering hopes were put out by a beauty of a delivery from Steyn. The South African pacer caught Gautam Gambhir on the crease to earn a leg before verdict when the left-hander was set for a century.

India finished the day at 190 for two with a lot depending on the solid-looking Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman. If the formidable middle-order rises to their reputation on Sunday, India might still escape with a draw as heavy rains are forecast for Monday, the last day of the Test. But then that prospect involves a myriad ifs and buts.

Meanwhile, the talk in South African cricket circles has been of the sudden emergence of a crop of hair on Jacques Kallis’s head and the consensus seems to be that the 35-year-old South African all-rounder had hair-implantation done.

There has not been an official word yet on the hair-raising issue but Kallis himself kept his hair on in the middle.

Overnight 102, Kallis went from strength to strength and added another feather to his well-decorated cap by scoring his first Test double century.

“Jacques has scored well over 11,000 Test runs and so it was a bit of a fluke that he had not hit a double-hundred in 142 Tests,” said Cricket South Africa congratulating the effort which gave his side a 484-run lead in the first innings. Kallis remained unbeaten on 201 when the home team declared their innings 29 minutes after lunch at 620 for four.

While Kallis kept his hair on, AB de Villiers let his hair down with a whirlwind knock. The No 5 batsman unleashed a flurry of strokes and scored the fastest Test century by a South African.

It came off just 75 balls helping Graeme Smith to declare the first innings earlier than he would have anticipated.

So fast was De Villiers’s effort that South Africa managed a score rate of about six runs per over on Saturday. Their overall first innings scoring rate was 4.76 per over, incredible by Test standards. De Villiers’s 200-run partnership with Kallis for the fifth wicket came in just 192 balls. They put on 224 runs with a strike rate of about 100.

He hammered 12 fours and five sixes, with Suresh Raina bearing the brunt of his fury.

Predictably, the Indian bowlers had another dismal day. Ishant Sharma managed a couple of wickets but that success was more due to the batsmen’s show of urgency to score rather than any incisive bowling.

S Sreesanth and Jaidev Unadkat remained wicketless in the innings. They might remain wicketless in the Test too as chances of South Africa batting for the second time in the match are as remote as Steyn sticking to the unwritten principle of not bowling bouncers to fellow pacers. Ishant Sharma would know this.

Heavens open up
It started raining late on Saturday evening. Sunday is expected to witness some rains which should intensify by Monday. The heavens seem to be opening up for India.