South Africa vs India 1st Test : Story till Now

Amongst the ruins of disappointing performance in the ODIs, team India was expected to perform better in the test series, and try to shed of "flat track bullies" tag. And after two days of exciting test cricket, the young Indian team, along with senior pros like Dhoni and Zaheer, have stood up to the challenge and are neck to neck with the South Africans.

Indian captain took a brave decision to bat first in a seaming wicket. After the first hour, one might have felt that Dhoni was wrong. Dhawan was consistently troubled by the short ball, and eventually fell to an excellent trap set by Steyn. Murali Vijay looked fine until Morkel was introduced to the attack. He was beaten a couple of times before eventually falling to Morkel.

At 24-2, it seemed like a reminiscence of past. But the new No3 and No4 batsmen, Pujara and Kohli were set to prove exactly why they were considered as perfect replacement of legends who occupied that position. Morkel was breathing fire, and Steyn’s nagging outside offstump line did no good either. But Pujara’s solid defence and Kohli’s mixed approach provided stability.

Both of them gained confidence with each passing ball. Kohli began unleashing a flurry of amazing shots, whereas Pujara looked solid as ever. Just when both looked to amass a good total, disaster struck as Kohli ran out Pujara for 25. This was exactly the wicket South Africans were looking for.

Kohli, unhindered by this unfortunate event, passed his 50, and was looking good for a well deserved hundred. But it looked like he will be running out of partners, after Rohit Sharma threw away his wicket. At 151 for 4, India were in a deep trouble. Then came in Mumbaikar Ajinkya Rahane.

Rahane was getting an oppertunity after a break of 7 months, and he took it with both hands. He looked solid, both of backfoot and front foot. His back-foot punches reminded everyone of Sachin’s glory days. With Kohli firing all cinders and Rahane looking solid, India looked to finish the day on a high.

Kohli completed a well-deserved century. He rated it as his best till now, and just when he looked good to score a big ton, Kallis got him out. Just a ball before, he had a swing-and-a-miss, and Kallis had some words for him. Kohli looked devastated after he fell right into Kallis’ trap.

Meanwhile, the day ended with no more casualities, as India posted a reasonable 255, losing 5 wickets.

Morkel was by far South Africa’s best bowler. Both Philander and Steyn were good in patches. South African spinners, Duminy and Tahir, were horrible. They gave 77 runs in their 13 overs, something not acceptable even in limited overs cricket.

Going into the second day, India looked to go beyond a total of 300. But under overcast conditions, the South African seamers ripped apart the Indian lower middle order and the tail. India were dismissed for just 280, adding 25 to the overnight score.

The South African batsmen, Smith and Peterson, started off with caution and ensured no casualities before Lunch. The session after lunch was completely dominated by South Africans. Graeme Smith finally seemed to have got a hang of Zaheer, inspite of a dropped catch when he was 19. Meanwhile, Ishant provided India its first break through, after he trapped Peterson leg before.

Amla came in and things started to stablisie for the Proteas. Amla and Smith were comfortable against the Indian bowling. Though India did bowl well, they were not disciplined enough and South Africa definitely had the upper hand.

Just after tea, the Indian bowling unit looked like a whole new one. They bowled with venom and pace, and it was just a matter of time before they got a wicket. And Ishant, again, was the one to get the breakthrough. Amla decided to leave one coming in, and saw his off stump on the ground. This triggered a spectacular middle order collapse. Jacques Kallis was trapped leg before for a golden duck. Zaheer got his bunny Smith again, in the immediate next over.

Dhoni brought back in Shami, and it proved to be a masterclass. He removed both Duminy and De Villers in the same over, one caught behind, other trapped leg before. The sheer fact that De Villers was beaten by pace justifies the improvement in Indian pace bowling.

While India looked to run through the tail, Du Plessis and Philander stitched an unbeaten 67 run partnership. Du Plessis was lucky, considering he was dropped before the end of the day. Philander looked solid for his 48, and is expected to complete his 3rd half century today.

After 2 days of enthralling cricket, definitely no team has the upper hand. The Indians have played well, but they need to finish off the tail quickly today and bat sensibly in the 3rd innings.

Except some good quality cricket for the coming 3 days of play.