The weather favoured South Africa with the umpires calling play off with the visitors on 115 for three on the fourth day of the second test against India at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday.
On a riveting day’s play India couldn’t manage wickets in a hurry but got three of them at regular intervals. Graeme Smith came out bull-headed and, along with Alviro Petersen, almost batted out the one-hour first session.
Five minutes before the break, though, Mishra got him with his first delivery. In the second session, Harbhajan Singh, looking menacing with almost every delivery, got Petersen early. Amla and Jacques Kallis looked pretty comfortable for 16 overs, but in deteriorating light Mishra got Kallis with a beauty minutes before the players walked off.
Hashim Amla, who had scored 367 runs in two innings before this, was made to dig deep into his patience and skill reserves, and will be hoping he has more in the tank.
India would have been much more comfortably placed despite bad light and rain had M Vijay held on to a sharp chance from Amla at backward short leg.
With clearer skies expected today, India will need one big push to reach their destination. For the coach who has helped turn things around, it’s a matter of playing the big moments well and playing with pride. “It’s amazing how Test cricket works,” Kirsten said. “Funny things happen. South Africa were 220 for one and we were able to turn it around. One thing this team has done really well is build pressure for a period of time and then make it count. We know in a two-Test series, one session can make the difference. It happened with South Africa in Nagpur and it happened with us here.”
South Africa 296 & 115/3 (35.0 ov)
India 643/6d
South Africa trail by 232 runs with 7 wickets remaining
South Africa: 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 JP Duminy, 7 Ashwell Prince, 8 Paul Harris, 9 Wayne Parnell, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel.
India: 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 M Vijay, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 S Badrinath, 7 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 8, Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Amit Mishra, 11 Ishant Sharma.
Nerves going now……hahaha.
Morkel must get away from the strike !!!
Puma…
I think mine is gone already…
How many overs left ?
Now don’t be stupid just bat smart. Went up in the air only to land save on the ground 😀
11 overs left.
meant safe
my prediction was with 10 overs to go, we’ll be offered the light …. pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease let it come true?
Why is this bowler wearing sunglasses?
Trying to prove the light it still good? 😆
123 – Blouste 11 overs. Cant look anymore. If only we had one more wicket to come in. Jeepers our top order let us down.
If Morkel holds out here he will be my hero with Amla of Kolkata forever…hehehe.
Maybe they should sent Amla and Morkel some of those headlights to counter his statement 😆
126 – Ash, you back. Good now stick with us we need the luck of the light and everyone here cheering our players on.
Come on now smog must make the light bad soon.
9 and a bit overs left now …
puma @ 130
bit busy here, but trying to keep an eye on the crici!!
9 overs left.
FIGHT………..FIGHT……….. WE CAN DO IT. Stay focused Morkel.
132 – Good Ash, Hope we can do it.
Come boys…
Grind it out !!!
come-on amla, you need to shield the tail-ender!!
48 Balls…
Only 42 balls now…
7 Overs to go…. 42 bloody balls…. come on, guts it out!!
7 OVERS LEFT.
AMLA HAS BATTED FOR 23 hours this series. Never ever been done before.
What a batsman we have in him. Going to be our greatest. Very proud of him.
NOW DID DEEP BOYS AND FIGHT………….FIGHT.
6 overs left.
MY NERVES ARE SHOT………. DAMN PLEASE AFTER THIS WE DESERVE THE DRAW………HOPING LIKE CRAZY.
36 balls to go…
Where is the normally bad light there? Always by now the light is far too bad to play.
Suppose umpires wont even look at that now with the test on a balance here.
Could this be…
# 140
Yes Puma…
An indian in India might save us 😆
What the heck they saying they may add additional overs? HUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Will only know by 4.25pm there time.
Bloody no-way game up after the overs are up. Now hope the bad light comes in very quick.
Day end is only 9 min Past 1 SA time. So they can bowl another 8/9 overs before close off play.
Now 30 balls !!!
Some worried Indian supporters out there….
No boet…
28 balls !!!
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