India struggled to 49 for two at tea on the second day of the third test against South Africa at Sahara Park Newlands in Cape Town on MondayThe visitors trail the hosts by 313 runs on the first innings after the Proteas had been bowled out for 362, 10 overs after lunch, with Jacques Kallis weighing in with a wonderful knock of 161 off 291 balls.
The burly all-rounder batted for 459 minutes and struck 19 fours and it was the 12th time he had reached a score of 150 in a test match.
Kallis eventually fell when his attempted cut shot to a short ball from left-arm quick Zaheer Khan resulted in a faint edge which was gratefully accepted by keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Lonwabo Tsotsobe (eight not out) and Kallis had shared in a frustrating, from an Indian point of view, 10th-wicket stand that produced 52 runs.
Paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth finished with figures of five for 114 off 29 overs while Khan picked up three for 89.
India endured a rocky start to their innings as they lost Virender Sehwag (13) with the score on 19 when the batsman mistimed an attempted drive to a Dale Steyn delivery to offer up a catch to Graeme Smith at mid-off.
South Africa’s skipper did well to dive forward and snatch the ball inches off the ground.
The next wicket fell with the score on 28 and it came courtesy of a remarkable piece of cricket.
The left-handed Gautam Gambhir (22 not out) flashed at a Tsotsobe delivery and was dropped by a diving Alviro Petersen in the gully.
Quick as a flash AB de Villiers ran from the slip cordon, picked up the ball and his direct hit broke the stumps at the keeper’s end with Rahul Dravid (5), who was trying to pinch a single, caught out of his ground.
Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar (eight not out) then added 21 runs for the third wicket to provide the innings with some stability.
Steyn reached the break with figures of one for 25 off eighth overs.
First session
Jacques Kallis stood firm in the face of a spirited India bowling attack to help South Africa to 335 for nine at lunch.
Kallis, who began the day on 81, reached the break on 140 not out off 253 balls to resist the India bowlers after the visitors had made full use of the second new ball to scythe through the Proteas’ middle and lower order.
Paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was the architect of South Africa’s collapse as the home side lost four wickets for the addition of 31 runs after the advent of the new ball.
Sreesanth reached lunch with figures of five for 99 off 27 overs, the third five-wicket haul in tests for the 27-year-old bowler. Sreesanth more than deserved his success as he served up a quality exhibition of fast bowling, extracting both swing and seam movement at a sunny Newlands.
But Kallis remained unruffled and the 35-year-old brought up his 39th test ton, off 209 balls with nine fours, to join Australia’s Ricky Ponting on 39 test hundreds. Only Sachin Tendulkar, with 50, has scored more test centuries.
Kallis’s performance was made all the more remarkable as he battled with a strained reductor muscle, around the hip area, an injury he had picked up while batting on the first day.
Ashwell Prince and Kallis began the day in positive fashion as they stretched their fifth-wicket partnership to 98 before Prince was dismissed for 47 by a snorter of a delivery from Sreesanth.
The bowler sent down a fullish delivery that seamed back appreciably into the left-handed Prince to beat his attempted drive and knock back his off stump.
Sreesanth struck with his next ball with a delivery that seamed away off the pitch to Mark Boucher (0) which resulted in an outside edge through to keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Dale Steyn (0) was beaten for pace by a bouncer from left-arm quick Zaheer Khan with the batsman only able to fend the ball to gully before Morne Morkel (8) edged a Sreesanth delivery to Dhoni.
South Africa had slumped to 283 for eight, after beginning the day on 232 for four, but Kallis finally found a willing partner in the form of Paul Harris as the duo added 27 runs for the ninth wicket.
Harris scored seven off 41 balls before he fended a short ball from seamer Ishant Sharma to leg gully.
India would have hoped to have wrapped up the South Africa innings before lunch but Lonwabo Tsotsobe (three not out) and Kallis dug in to add an important 25 runs for the unbeaten 10th-wicket stand.
