South Africa top order starts series on a high

Chennai: South African skipper Graeme Smith would certainly be smiling at the end of Day One of the first Test with India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here.

At stumps on Wednesday, his side was sitting pretty at 304-4, with the captain himself, Neil McKenzie (94) and Hashim Amla (85 not out) putting it across the Indian attack. Anil Kumble was left holding the consolation prize of four wickets.

It could have been far worse for the hosts.

With Amla and A.B de Villiers (10) at the crease, and Mark Boucher and Morne Morkel still to bat, South Africa could well be in a position to force the issue here. India, on the other hand, would be hoping for contributions from all the bowlers, not just the spinners.

There is a flip side of having seven batsmen in the team. If you lose the toss and have to field first, the two medium-pacers have to really get their act together. Once Graeme Smith won the toss and predictably elected to bat, all the Indians could do was hope that their limited bowling strength would be able to do the job.

India went in with the expected two spinners, while RP Singh and S Sreesanth got the nod for sharing the new ball, Irfan Pathan having to sit out. While there may be questions raised about his being left out, the fact remains that there was no place for three seamers, and playing both left-armers did not look like such a great idea.

In any case, both RP Singh and Sreesanth have shown greater wicket-taking knack off late.

Anil Kumble was as always expected to be the mainstay for the Indian attack, and with the pace attack not showing enough teeth, the job became even more demanding.

However, the captain took to it like he always does, and it was thanks to his and Harbhajan Singh’s efforts that India at least had something to show at the end of the day. He got rid of Smith (73) and then Ashwell Prince (23), the latter thanks to a sprawling caught and bowled, which was definitely the highlight of the Indian fielding on day one.

The South Africans, on the other hand, promised a lot individually, especially Smith and McKenzie, but neither stayed around long enough to convert potential centuries into real ones.

Given the none-too friendly conditions, Harbhajan should at least be commended for the effort he put int, which kept India in some sort of shape. He bowled an unchanged spell of 16 overs, his second, on either side of tea to claim the wickets of McKenzie and Jacques Kallis (13), the former falling to a fine piece of bowling as he failed to negotiate the delivery drifting away and edged it to Rahul Dravid at slips.

Kallis gave Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf a bit of a reprieve. The batsman played the ball onto his pads and was held by Wasim Jaffer at bat-pad. However, Rauf didn’t seem too inclined to give the batsman out but Kallis walked.

Amla is the sort of batsman who can drive any bowling up the wall. He takes the concept of using time to heart, and while he is slow, he tends to keep the bowlers away, which can be really trying. The Indians really didn’t find much joy against him, and with Prince, a batsman of the same mode, things were sedate, but the South Africans wouldn’t be complaining.

At tea, South Africa left it one step short of total domination. Looking like batting away with the day’s honours, they left the Indians with a toe-hold. The Proteas were 206-2 off 54 overs at the break.

South Africa had their plans well in place and the Indian bowling began to feel the heat, literally and figuratively, as the visiting batsmen largely cut out all extravagant shots and waited for the bad ball, which came at disturbing frequency. Smith however, would not be happy with the way he departed, failing to reach the pitch of an Anil Kumble delivery, as VVS Laxman pulled off a fine catch at short mid-on.

Smith had done all the hard work, having reached his half-century shortly before lunch as the South Africans went into the break at 109 for no loss. But having done all that, and with little seemingly going the Indian bowlers’ way, he would certainly have been expecting to get a big score.

Earlier, Kumble had to bring himself on much earlier that he would have liked, coming in to bowl the 11th over with 43 runs on the board for no loss. Harbhajan Singh followed soon after, but neither bowler found the ball suitable enough to generate too many revolutions or too much spin.

All efforts to dislodge the two proved futile as McKenzie began getting his act together, reaching his half-century with an off-driven four off RP Singh, 11 boundaries punctuating his effort at that stage off 73 balls.

The Indians had very little to offer in terms of resistance, let alone any breakthroughs, as both batsmen made merry. The 100 of the innings came up in the 24th over as Smith played possibly the best shot of the morning, a straight driven boundary off Harbhajan. The South African went back into the pavilion a happy man, having got to his 50 with in the last over before lunch, coming off 71 balls with eight boundaries.

The teams:

India: Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble (capt), Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, S Sreesanth.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Neil McKenzie, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher (wk), Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Paul Harris, Makhaya Ntini.