Kallis, Boucher frustrate India (Tea report)
By IANSWednesday, January 5, 2011
CAPE TOWN - Battling a side strain, Jacques Kallis led the fightback against India with a gutsy unbeaten half-century as South Africa reached 212 for six in the second innings and stretched their lead to 210 at tea on the fourth day of the third and the final cricket Test here Wednesday.
India’s hopes of their historic Test series win in South Africa brightened after the hosts lost three wickets for 69 runs in the first session at the Newlands Stadium.
But Kallis (67 batting) and Mark Boucher (46 batting) frustrated the Indians with their 82-run stand in the second session after South Africa were reduced to 130 for six shortly after the lunch break.
The only wicket to fall in the post-luch session was that of Ashwell Prince (22) with Ishant Sharma setting him up. Sharma enticed him to drive through the extra cover and bowled a similar length in the next delivery, forcing the left-handed batsmen to slap at it and Sreesanth took a good low catch in the point.
India dominated the morning session with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh picking up two crucial wickets to leave South Africa struggling at 121 for five at lunch.
South African batsmen struggled to adjust to the cracking pitch, but Kallis waged a valiant fight.
Earlier, Harbhajan, who picked up two wickets Tuesday, kept the batsmen guessing by getting the ball to turn from the rough. He got good support from Zaheer Khan and S. Sreesanth, who bowled a disciplined line and length, from the other end. The pressure exerted by Indian bowlers helped them pick up three wickets for 69 runs in the first session of the day.
Alviro Petersen went back to the pavilion without adding anything to his overnight score of 22 with Harbhajan trapping him leg before.
The off-spinner was again on target in his next over and rattled the stumps of Hashim Amla (2). Amla tried to sweep Harbhajan, but the ball hit his pads and bounced to hit his middle stump — South Africa were reduced to 64 for four.
Kallis kept the scoreboard moving and reverse-swept Harbhajan for two fours. With AB de Villiers (13), Kallis added 34 runs for the fifth wicket.
Zaheer struck with an in-swinger to remove De Villiers.
