Harbhajan Singh
And, the protean poor batting performance at Durban continued. They were rooted for a mere 131 by the Indian bowling attack. Zaheer was back in the side and he impressed! His senior partner Harbhajan fared even better! Zaheer took 3 wickets as Bhajji took 4. Nobody really looked comfortable at the crease. Amla was the only one to get past 30 with his 33. The opener Petersen too got to 24, but, then Zaheer bowled him out with a beauty. The previous test match double centurion Kallis was incidentally run out by Sharma. Sreesanth looked inspired from Steyn and bowled an unplayable delivery to AB which thumbed him to Dhoni. Ishant and Sreesanth had a piece each, as both of them seemed fortified and motivated with the return of the fabulous Zaheer. And, the Indian fielding looked decent as well: They responded well to the bowling by taking some great catches, including, the one through which Dravid completed his 200th Test catch.
The splendid display by India rooted the SA for a meager 131. The Indians took a staggering 74 run lead. As India went to bat in the second innings I thought now the wicket will ease out for the batsmen. But, I was taken aback as the wicket-fest continued! Indian top order was again rattled. Sehwag pleased with his boundaries. But, then he played an ill-stroke off a wide delivery which took his edge. And, with him the Indian top order again buckled: Dravid went on for an on-drive off a wide delivery and gave Boucher a dolly, Tendulkar looked in aggressive mood, but, was caught at third slip by India’s nightmare Steyn. In all India lost 4 wickets for just 14 runs. The good start the Indian openers made was all in ruins! But, Laxman and Pujara tried to stabilize the innings a bit with their small partnership of 36. Indian scorecard read 92 runs for the loss of 4 wickets at the end of the day. Taking in account the lead India are 166 runs ahead.
The game looks in balance now. It will be interesting to see the plans of SA against Laxman and Dhoni. It was only the second day which ended, but, we have witnessed action-packed cricket between the two awesome sides. India in a way proved why it was number one on the second day. It seemed like India just needed Zaheer for doing the tango. He has to look upon his injury woes which are actually a big concern for the side and do affect us critically!
Tags: Cricket, Durban, Harbhajan Singh, India, Rahul Dravid, South Africa, Test Match, Test Series, Zaheer Khan
