TheSportsCampus

< Prev		Next >

A third and fourth centurion in the innings in VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni have taken India to a near unassailable position in the second cricket test against South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Resuming from an overnight score of 342/5 in their second innings, the hosts took their first innings lead to 347 courtesy of an unbeaten stand of 259 for the 7th wicket in just 66 overs between the aforementioned duo. India declared their innings closed after practically batting the Proteas out of the game, but were unable to even get a full over in at the visitors before bad light brought an early end to proceedings for the third successive day.

India started day 3 already 46 runs to the good with VVS Laxman unbeaten on 9 and night watchman Amit Mishra keeping him company with 1 to his name. Mishra played his role to perfection, keeping the bowlers out the night before and taking on the bowling this morning to add 48 useful runs for the 6th wicket before falling in the slips off Morne Morkel. Sadly from the Proteas perspective that was the only piece of good news they had all day.

VVS Laxman again showed his liking for Eden Gardens, the venue of his greatest ever innings of 281 against Australia, with an unbeaten 143 off 260 balls with 16 fours while captain MS Dhoni contributed a slightly more aggressive unbeaten 132 off 187 balls with 12 fours and 3 sixes.

The Proteas stuck manfully to their task throughout the third day although they continued to make life difficult for themselves with a succession of missed chances. Some of them were little more than half chances at best but their supporters have become used to them taking most of them. The combined effect of those let offs to Virender Sehwag, Laxman and Dhoni amounted to a staggering 322 runs and has certainly made their life a lot more difficult than it need have been. The absence of Boucher and the fact that Smith has not been able to field at first slip has obviously been important.

At the close of the third day the Proteas were 6/0 in their second innings needing a further 341 runs to wipe out their host's first innings lead. That will not be the end of the story because they will still need to go on batting long enough to prevent India from having the chance to knock off the winning runs. Under normal sub-continent conditions that would represent a near super-human task but this is no ordinary Indian pitch. It is about as flat as flat can be as the Proteas' bowlers have found during their toils through the last six sessions.

The biggest obstacle in the way of the Proteas will not lie in the pitch itself but in the mental pressure exerted on any side by the sheer weight of runs stacked up against them. The next biggest obstacle will be the frenetic and fanatical nature of the home crowd and their ability to lift India's most likely match winner, Harbhajan Singh, into a similar tidal wave of emotion.

This is something that Harbhajan has a habit of doing at this particular ground, most notably in 2001 in India's famous victory over Australia after being forced to follow on. This was undoubtedly the Test match of the first decade of the current century.

South Africa on their part can draw on some history of their own for inspiration, performing miracles at Lord's in 2008 and indeed at Edgbaston, Perth and Melbourne later the same year.

Mini Scorecard:

South Africa 1st Innings 296 all out (85 overs, 3.48 rpo)
Amla 114 (166)                     Zaheer 4-90
Petersen 100 (164)               Harbhajan 3-64

India 1st Innings 643/6 (153 overs, 4.2 rpo)
Sehwag 165 (174)                Morkel 2-115
Tendulkar 106 (206)             Duminy 1-73
Laxman 143* (260)
Dhoni 132* (187)

South Africa 2nd Innings 6/0 (0.5 overs, 7.2 rpo)
Smith 5* (4)

File Photograph Copyright: Sandeep M