In the end, India needed the mercy of elements to escape the fury of the South African batsmen. Weighed down by the heavy-scoring AB de Villiers and Jacues Kallis for most part of the second day, the sight of home players walking towards the pavilion with eagerness after heavens opened up came as no surprise.
But before the nature's intervention, Kallis smashed his 30th Test hundred to go past Sir Donald Bradman’s tally, while de Villiers struck his fifth Test hundred which he later converted into his first Test double ton as the visitors garnered 494 for seven for an imposing overall lead of 418 runs. When play was called off with 12.4 overs remaining to be bowled, de Villiers was batting on 217 and Paul Harris on nine.
India's best chance to stage a comeback depended on taking early wickets. But Kallis and de Villiers thwarted their designs, carving out a monumental partnership as South Africa batted India out of the second Test with chilling certainty on the second day.
It was quite hard to take in the fact that one team was skittled out for a mere 76 on this pitch. Kallis and de Villiers, who amassed 256 for the fifth wicket, flogged the Indian attack to prove that the pitch contained no devils at any point of time and also underlined the value of concentration.
You may not spend your last rupee to watch both Kallis and de Villiers bat, but it is hard to find better batsmen in times of crisis. Their task was to survive the initial hour — they did that and much more.
De Villiers was determination personified. The 24-year-old right-hander had a torrid time in the opening slot not so long ago, but the demotion to number six has worked wonders for him in the longer version of the game. That fact was evident when he executed a perfect cover drive off Harbhajan to reach the double hundred.
The Pretorian seldom looked in trouble against any of the Indian bowlers whose woes were doubled as skipper Anil Kumble did not look his customary intense self, perhaps due to that right groin niggle.
A lesson
Credit, however, should not be taken away from de Villiers for applying himself for more than eight hours over two days, and the innings should also work as a lesson for his Indian counterparts.
At the other end, Kallis had his moments of struggle and fortune. He was extremely lucky to stay at the crease. Harbhajan Singh, who opened the bowling along with Irfan Pathan on Friday, kicked one up from good length and the ball trickled down to the stumps after taking a deflection off the batsman's gloves. But to the disbelief of the entire Indian camp, the bails did not fall from its perch.
The burly all-rounder was then on 61, and he added a further 72 runs to exploit his fortune to the hilt. He was also distinctly lucky not to be given out by umpire Tony Hill when Sreesanth rapped his pad a while later. Kallis had missed out on a big score in the Chennai Test, and here he was in no mood to squander the chance, completing a well-deserved hundred soon after lunch.
With the both the batsmen beginning to score freely, the Indian shoulders began to droop and the bowlers attitude to wait for things to happen too did not help the home side's cause. New ball was taken after 81.2 overs, but by then the pitch had eased out. Sreesanth bowled his heart out, once hitting Kallis on the shoulder. But after the new ball was seen off, Kallis and de Villiers came to their own, taking toll on the below par Indian bowling.
India had to wait till nearly the end of the post-lunch session for the first breakthrough. Kallis' attempt to shoulder arms to a Sreesanth delivery did not succeed as the ball took an inside edge before pegging the middle stump back. By then, the duo had snuffed out India’s hopes. There was further agony for the Indians as Mark Boucher and de Villiers added 66 runs for the sixth wicket, swelling South Africa's first innings lead over 400.
