SuperSport Park, Centurion
As if Amla wasn’t bad enough, even AB de Villiers decided to crash the party. The first test match between India and South Africa continues with South Africa on the driver’s seat.
On the 3rd day Amla went on to make 140 in 202 balls, he finally fell to the bowling of Ishant Sharma and the Indian side must have been momentarily happy, Kallis was still there on the other side and made 201 for 270 balls.
AB de Villiers came in and got the Indian team on all fours running around the park like Labradors being asked to fetch. He made a brilliant 129 in just 112 balls showing us all how hideous the bowling was .Just after Kallis made his double century South Africa declared at 620 and put India back in to bat.
Everyone was probably not expecting anything from the batting line up after their disastrous first innings total but Gambhir and Sehwag let us heave a sigh of relief. Gambhir made 80 of 124 balls and Sehwag made 63 of 79 balls, a good enough partnership but not enough to win a match, what would have been most ideal was Sehwag or Gambhir like Kallis making a double century.
Day 3 ended with Rahul Dravid at 28; will his cement be strong enough to manage a draw? We know he’s capable of it, if theres anyone who can stall for two days making just 12 runs its probably Dravid so for the first time ever we need him to play exactly the boring way he’s use to playing.
Its times like this when Sunil Gavaskar is missed.
Ishant Sharma was brought in probably as a night watchman has made 7runs.
Forget a victory, how embarrassing would it be for the World Cup hopefuls to have an innings defeat, I’m no expert but that can’t be an easy pill to swallow for India or its fans. The series isn’t over yet though, it’s too soon to make predictions or point fingers, but why is it that almost every time India goes to play cricket in another country their first match almost always ends in a disaster?
A draw would seem as good as a victory at this point if the paper tigers manage to salvage something after their fabulous red carpet entrance on the first day of the test match.
Tags: 1st Test, AB de Villiers, Centurion, Cricket, Hashim Amla, India, Indian Sports, Jacques Kallis, South Africa, Sports, Sports India, Supersport Park, Test Cricket, Test Series
