Indian batting stands up

With 294 needed to avoid innings defeat, visitors task far from over

However, being so far behind the eight-ball after the first-innings skirmishes in the first Test, not even a third-day tally of 190 for two could bring smiles to the Indian camp.

Cold statistics reveal that India needed a further 294 runs to merely avoid an innings defeat. With two days left and only eight wickets standing, the visitors will have to bat out of their skins and hope for intervention from the elements if they are to prevent South Africa from opening up a 1-0 lead.

Jacques Kallis’ maiden double ton and AB de Villiers’ sumptuous 12th Test hundred had propelled the Proteas to a gargantuan 620 for four when Graeme Smith applied the closure, armed with a lead of 484.

After their disastrous first-innings misadventure in difficult conditions, how India would respond to an equally daunting challenge – of having to put arrears and overs left out of their minds and just bat on and on – had generated tremendous interest. In the event, through crack openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, and then Rahul Dravid, the real Indian batting stood up and asked to be counted.

Without the assistance they had procured on the first day courtesy a damp, moist surface, the South African bowling didn’t quite hold the same terror, but in any conditions, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel can be more than a handful. Both were negotiated with aplomb by the aggressive Sehwag and the controlled Gambhir, bearing no resemblance to the tentative batsman of Thursday.

India have come to rely immensely on Sehwag’s pyrotechnics and his wonderful understanding with Gambhir, and the two Delhi men didn’t disappoint. There were occasions when they rode their luck – Sehwag was dropped on 34, while Gambhir was put down on 43 and 62 – but generally they looked in control, the right-hander pummelling the bowling and the left-hander ticking over without suffering in comparison.

Sehwag’s aggression can prove his undoing, and that’s exactly what happened when he charged Paul Harris’ left-arm spin and put up a smart catch for Smith, running back from mid-off. It terminated a stand of 137 (142m, 178b), and when Gambhir was trapped in front in fading light by Steyn, some of the good work had been undone.

South Africa, however, had carried on from the good work of the past two days when play began on Saturday. Kallis (201 n.o., 388m, 270b, 15x4, 5x6) is one of the true giants of the modern era but in a career of several highs, the one milestone missing was a double ton, even after 142 Tests and 11,000 runs. That anomaly was corrected in spectacular fashion in front of a huge gathering.

Not as fluent as the previous day, the classy right-hander still seldom put a foot wrong, holding his concentration even after Hashim Amla fell in the first half hour after a stand of 230 (238m, 317b) and intelligently refusing to try to match the flamboyant, boundary-minded De Villiers (129, 149m, 112b, 12x4, 5x6).

If India’s bowling had been listless on Friday, it was positively lackadaisical on day three. Clearly, they were just going through the motions and as Kallis carried on unhurriedly, occasionally opening his broad shoulders, De Villiers punished India with sensational ball-striking.

Fresh off the highest individual score by a South African, against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, he raced to the fastest century by a Protean, unleashing such mayhem that Mahendra Singh Dhoni had no answer to his ferocity.

Fours and sixes cascaded off his willow with breathtaking frequency, Suresh Raina suffering the most after the regular bowlers had taken a pounding. With Kallis deciding it was time to join the fun, the first session yielded a whopping 225 in 36 overs.

Having heralded local lad De Villiers’ 75-ball ton with a standing ovation, the crowd outdid itself when Kallis glanced Jaidev Unadkat fine for his 15th four, and first double century. De Villiers celebrated as if it was he who had reached 200, while Kallis’ rare show of emotion showed just how much getting there meant to him.

The declaration arrived 29 minutes after lunch when De Villiers was dismissed trying to up an already rollicking association of 224 (149m, 226b). It couldn’t have come sooner for India!