World No 1 India needs a miracle to save Centurion Test

Only a miracle can save the world's no 1 test team from losing the Centurion Test against South Africa

"Welcome to our fortress" was echoing loud at SuperSport Park yesterday as South Africa, who have won 11 out of 15 Tests at the ground, continued their domination of India, who incidentally are playing their first-ever Test match here, in the first of the three Tests of their tour of South Africa.


South Africa's Jacques Kallis has no trouble in despatching a short and
wide delivery en route his unbeaten 102 on Day Two of the first Test
against India at SuperSport Park, Centurion yesterday.

Massive lead
The hosts ended Day Two at 366-2, leading the demoralised visitors by 230 runs. Twin centurions Hashim Amla (116) and Jacques Kallis (102) were unbeaten at stumps. Amla continued his love affair against India, bringing up his fourth century in three Tests. Both entertained the crowd as Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Indians quickly ran out of ideas. Almost 50 per cent of South Africa's runs were scored backward of square -- a clear indicator of the line and length bowled by India's six bowlers. Towards the closing stages of the day, in what appeared like the last roll of the dice, Dhoni threw the new ball to his fast bowlers. However, not a single ball beat the well-set batsmen. It all proved too little too late.

After the day's play, the sight of the Indians doing their fielding drills and Proteas leaving the stadium early summed up the contrasting moods in the two respective camps. It also underlined that the contest between two of the finest teams was a mushrooming mismatch. Rahul Dravid took blame for India's woeful performance, conceding they had their backs against the wall: "We cannot look for any reasons or excuses. We just have to accept that we didn't play well enough on the first day. It would be unfair to blame the inexperienced bowling attack because they tried everything possible," he said.

Dravid felt the seamers could have bowled a fuller length though. "The wicket eased out considerably, we knew it was going to be tough, but our bowlers could have tried to get them (the SA batsmen) to drive more. That's one thing we could have done differently," he said.u00a0

That was established during the course of the day as India's bowlers extracted something out of the surface every time they pitched the ball up. The first ball after lunch from Ishant Sharma (0-68) was short and wide outside off, and deservedly smashed for a boundary, summing up the proceedings.

Dravid optimistic
An optimistic Dravid felt India were still in with a shot to save the game, "In the last few years, we have come out of impossible situations. We have to believe we can save the Test. We need to keep our heads up, show some fighting spirit. There's a long way to go in the series," he added.

South Africa opener Alviro Peterson admitted that his side wanted to dominate proceedings today, the third day of the Test, "We want to continue this domination. We respect the quality they bring to the contest, but we are definitely in with a good shout to take a 1-0 lead in the series," he said.

Brief Scores
India 136 all out.
South Africa 366/2 (H Amla 116, J Kallis 102)