Brilliant Kallis punctures India
From the Indian perspective, Jacques Kallis chose the wrong day to be the first South African to score two centuries in a home test. That too despite a side strain. It was a performance superman would have been proud of!
Kallis' unbeaten 109 was again instrumental in pinning the Indians back as South Africa finished day four with a lead of 339 runs. However, it was the visitors who had the edge early in the day with Harbhajan Singh grabbing the wickets of Petersen and Amla.
South Africa were reeling at 64-4 within the first two overs of the day. They stumbled on but AB De Villiers and Ashwell Prince both fell and they were 130-6 shortly after lunch. However, Kallis made a firm 103-run stance for the 7th wicket with Mark Boucher and then a 54-run alliance with Steyn to steady the ship.
The Indians weren't helped by their bowling. They relied heavily on Harbhajan Singh, who ended with a figure of 7-120, while Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma all ran out of ideas as the game progressed.
Kallis began his masterful innings in the second over of the day. Harbhajan got the early wickets, trapping Alviro Petersen (22) on the back-foot before Hashim Amla (2) swept an off-break into his stumps. 34 runs later, Kallis watched AB de Villiers walk back for reacting late to Zaheer's in-swinger which uprooted his middle-stump after catching the inside-edge of his raised bat.
Many a time the Cape Town crowd had to watch Kallis lie on the ground clutching his side. Despite the pain however, the veteran, who seems to get better with age, read through the Indian bowling like an open book. Soon, Boucher got used to it too and Harbhajan was no longer a problem.
India's bowling wasn't great. Ishant Sharma was lucky to dismiss Ashwell Prince (22), who slashed a short delivery to point, after lunch. His line and length was so poor that Dhoni had no option but take him off. Zaheer Khan was a bigger worry due to his harmless speeds of 115-120 kph in a two-over spell an hour after lunch.
India found the game slipping away from them as Kallis and Boucher extended the lead past 200 after tea. The partnership was soon broken however, as Sachin Tendulkar trapped Boucher (55) lbw. Steyn didn't provide India with a reprieve though, raising Sreesanth over deep midwicket for a big one shortly after coming on. The fast bowler proved to be an able assistant to Kallis and their lead soared past 250.
Harbhajan came back into the attack, and though Steyn smashed him wide long-on, the spinner got his fifth wicket. Morkel and Tsotsobe did what they could to assist Kallis, who saw to it that the lead went well past the 300 mark.
Harbhajan got the final two to finish with seven wickets but the hero of the day was Jacques Kallis who played arguably his finest innings as a cricketer to give South Africa every chance of taking the series. At stumps on day four, South Africa lead by 339 runs and will look to dent the Indian batting early on day four. This could prove to be a hard task however, as India have stalwarts in their line who are more than capable of winning the tie. The final day promises a great day of cricket.
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