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India was assaulted by a barrage of top class pace bowling from a blazing Dale Steyn to be reduced to 233 all out in their first innings and 66/2 following on, on another day dominated completely by the South Africans in the first cricket test at Nagpur. Steyn first picked up two wickets with the new ball in the morning session, then was magical with the older, reversing one that got him five, and had enough fuel left in the tank for another in India's second innings. Virender Sehwag was the only batsman who provided any resistance with a remarkably restrained innings of 109.

The day began with the fantastic prospect of watching what could possibly be contemporary cricket's greatest showdowns, the world's best pace bowling attack of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel versus the opening juggernaut of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. As it turned out, the key performers of the day for both sides were the first halves of these duos.

It was Morkel though who incidentally drew first blood with a cracker of a deliver. Just back of a length, it angled in before holding its line, and Gambhir played inside the line to edge to Boucher. 1-0 to South Africa just five minutes into the day.

This set the stage for the champion of the day. Steyn got one to pitch perfectly on its seam and jag back in to clatter into a clueless Murali Vijay's off stump. Vijay had shouldered arms to let it pass and saw death fly by right underneath his nose. Next up was the Little Master Sachin Tendulkar. With much more experience behind him than most batsmen can even dream of ever having, Tendulkar  was a far harder nut to crack. He never made the mistake of leaving his stumps exposed when letting balls go past and got well behind the line and accounted for the swing when playing. But nothing denies a Sten gun in full form. The set up was perfect, the execution brilliant. A full outswinger, driven for four through covers. Another outswinger a touch shorter, edged and the Master's walking back.

In came Subramaniam Badrinath with a mountain of pressure on his shoulders, on debut no less. Steyn and Morkel were tiring after their opening burst, and he was thus lucky to avoid the worst from them. Against Wayne Parnell and under-fire spinner Paul Harris, he looked fairly comfortable and provided steady support to the in-form Sehwag. He survived until lunch, and the Steyn-Morkel spell post the break as well.

Meanwhile, Virender Sehwag was playing a remarkable innings, with uncharacteristic restraint as was the need of the hour. His strike rate was a mere 78, which is express for lesser mortals but sluggish by his standards. His composure and reserve was commendable, never once being tempted to go for an extravagant shot, and even allowing full maiden overs go by. It was heartening to see this other gear to his game, and it will certainly serve him well after the fabled Fab Four finally leave the game. Sehwag departed soon after scoring his 18th  test hundred, succumbing to Parnell's ploy of consistently bowling wide to him and getting him to play away from the body. His disappointment at throwing away his wicket was telling, and his commitment showed.

MS Dhoni joined Badrinath and played out till tea. Badrinath had reached fifty by then, a responsible knock in which all those years of toil at the domestic level came through. Right after tea though, Dhoni was snapped up by Paul Harris with a delivery that jumped up at him, catching the glove en route to Jacques Kallis.

Enter a rejuvenated Steyn for a second crack at the batting. With an old ball that was reversing with a vengeance, the man who has wrestled crocodiles decimated the Indians with a ferocious spell that read 3.4-2-3-5. The ball kept moving in prodigiously with the shiny side and the hapless Indians could do little but watch. Within half an hour, the remaining half of the side was cleaned up and Steyn finished with a career-best 7-51. This was as good an exhibition of masterful reverse swing as you will ever see, right up there with the likes of the best of spells of the original proponents, Pakistan's Wasim and Waqar.

This was not enough for him, though. A massive lead of 325 on the third evening meant the Proteas had ample runs and ample time to play with. Graeme Smith commanded the Indians to come out and face the music for a second time. Five whirlwind overs later, the openers were back in the hutch. Gambhir to Morkel and Sehwag to Steyn. The big fish were caught for a second time on the same day. Vijay and Tendulkar somehow managed to hold out till stumps at 66/2, an innings and 259 runs behind the visitors.

India now need nothing short of a miracle to save them from their predicament. Batting out two full days with their top two batsmen out already and three greenhorns in the mix will definitely qualify as one. Clearly, the Saffers seem to have come into the contest with far more intent of wresting the No.1 tag tha the hosts, and they are proving just that on the field.

Dale Steyn later attributed his performance to the change of ball at the tea break. However, he has proved that venue, pitch, temperature, moisture and other variables can be thrown completely out of the equation if you possess the genuine genius to excel anywhere. Dale Steyn, take a bow.

Mini Scorecard:

South Africa 1st innings: 558/6 decl.
Hashim Amla 253*                         Zaheer Khan 31-7-96-3
Jacques Kallis 173                        Harbhajan Singh 46-1-166-2

India 1st innings: 233 all out
Virender Sehwag 109                     Dale Steyn 16.4-6-51-7
Subramaniam Badrinath 56          Wayne Parnell 7-1-31-1

India 2nd innings (following on): 66/2
Murali Vijay 27*                            Dale Steyn 4-0-14-1
Virender Sehwag 16                     Morne Morkel 6-2-21-1

File Photograph Copyright: Oliver Florence