Weather holds up Indian charge

Cricket: Second Test: Mishra bags two wickets to leave South Africa struggling at 115 for three at the end of day four

A combination of overnight showers, bad light in the morning, a light drizzle in the afternoon and continued poor light in the evening restricted the action to just 34.1 overs on the penultimate day of the second Test on a gloomy Wednesday.

The 151 minutes of play was time enough for India’s spin twins to reduce the visitors, trailing by 347 on the first innings, to 115 for three. Form batsman Hashim Amla stood tall amidst the ruins with an unbeaten 49 to take his tally this series to more than 400, but he will need generous assistance from the middle-order on the morrow if South Africa are to get out of jail.

The Proteas might have hit it lucky on day four, but if the met office prediction holds true, there will be no like respite on Thursday. The forecast for the final day of the Test series, which will begin at 8.45 am, is for partly cloudy skies with no more than a ten percent chance of precipitation, in contrast to Wednesday, when scattered thunderstorms and a 40 percent chance of rain had been predicted.

India did just enough in the brief passages of play to keep a patient if understandably thin turn-out in good humour. South Africa were never allowed to string together a partnership after play began 93 minutes behind schedule due to a wet outfield, though for a change, it wasn’t Zaheer Khan that did the early damage.

India’s pace spearhead has been a persistent and prickly thorn in Graeme Smith’s side. The left-arm quick gave the South African skipper a thorough working over, eliciting a sequential play-and-miss routine that elicited gasps from the crowd and frustrated if good-natured banter from the bowler himself.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t Ishant Sharma but Harbhajan who shared the new ball with Zaheer. The conditions called out for the pacers to operate in tandem, but Mahendra Singh Dhoni has often strayed from the conventional; Harbhajan bowled quite beautifully, troubling Smith as much as Zaheer had, but there wasn’t no immediate success.

Dhoni rung the changes rapidly, and introduced Mishra two overs before lunch. The leg-spinner has had little joy this series despite bowling quite well, but this time around, he hit pay-dirt immediately, trapping Smith in front with a gentle leg-break that beat the left-hander’s flick to leg and thudded into his front pad.

Mishra was to strike as significant a blow later in the afternoon when he ripped a leg-break across Jacques Kallis and found a feather to Dhoni, a huge wicket at a most opportune moment, considering that only ten further deliveries were bowled for the day.
It was Harbhajan who, by some distance, was the most impressive bowler on view. His confidence restored after three wickets in the first innings, he asked numerous uncomfortable questions of the South Africans, thriving on the additional bounce and varying his pace nicely with new and a slightly older ball alike.

It was with one that bounced a little more than anticipated that he got rid of the assured Alviro Petersen, smartly caught on the second attempt at forward short leg by S Badrinath. Harbhajan should have also had Amla, but Murali Vijay at leg-gully failed to hold on to a sharp offering off a glance when the batsman was just ten.

Amla was otherwise in supreme control, benefiting from a wayward Ishant who sought to repeat his

brilliant pre-tea burst of short-pitched bowling on day one but instead served up freebies lapped up with ill-concealed glee by the right-hander. After a hesitant start, Amla grew in stature with cracking shots and had put on 57 for the third wicket with Kallis when the latter was sent on his way.

India had a mild scare when Zaheer left the field with tightening of his right quadricep.
He did return later and bowled one gingerly over, but for the hosts to register the series-squaring win on the morrow, he must fire on all cylinders. And the weather must play no part!
Score Board
SOUTH AFRICA (I Innings): 296 all out in 85 overs
INDIA (I Innings): 643/6 decl in 153 overs

SOUTH AFRICA (II Innings, O/n: 6/0):
Smith lbw Mishra    20
(59m, 33b, 2x4)
Petersen c Badrinath b H’bhajan    21
(87m, 51b, 2x4)
Amla (batting)    49
(101m, 80b, 7x4)
Kallis c Dhoni b Mishra    20
(66m, 47b, 3x4)
Prince (batting)    0
(6m, 4b)
Extras (NB-5)    5
Total (for 3 wkts, 35 overs)    115

Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Smith), 2-54 (Amla), 3-111 (Kallis).
Bowling: Zaheer 6-0-32-0, Harbhajan 13-3-31-1, Ishant 8-1-36-0 (nb-4), Mishra 7-3-15-2 (nb-1), Sehwag 1-0-1-0.