Kolkata, February 14: Alviro Petersen and Nagpur Test’s double centurion Hashim Amla blunted toothless Indian bowling with effortless ease as South Africans appeared to be taking control of the Kolkata Test on day one itself.
Like at Nagpur, Indian bowlers failed to take advantage of an early breakthrough after Zaheer Khan had sent Graeme Smith packing early on.
That was to be India’s only success of the day so far as the duo milked bowling for easy runs.
Pacers- Zaheer and Ishant Sharma, as well as spinners Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra were being were rendered completely ineffective on what was a perfect batting wicket.
Having cruised to 116/1 till lunch, South Africans were 175/1 mid-way into the second session with both the batsmen nudging towards their centuries..
Earlier, Zaheer added yet another successful chapter to his domination over Graeme Smith when he clean bowled the South African captain for a partly score of 4 runs.
This was the fourth time Zaheer got the better of Smith, having dismissed him cheaply in the Nagpur Test as well earlier.
In the morning, Smith had won the toss yet again, and not surprisingly, elected to bat first as the second and final Test match got underway at Kolkata on Sunday.
For the Proteas, who lead the series 1-0, Smith decided to take the field despite suffering a finger injury at practice 2 days ago. However Mark Boucher was ruled out with a back spasm, paving way for Alviro Petersen.
Meanwhile India, who need to win not only to salvage the series, but also to retain their numero uno ranking in Tests, replace Wriddhiman Saha with VVS Laxman.
Team:
India: V Sehwag, G Gambhir, M Vijay, SR Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, S Badrinath, MS Dhoni*†, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, A Mishra, I Sharma
South Africa: GC Smith*, AN Petersen, HM Amla, JH Kallis, AB de Villiers†, AG Prince, JP Duminy, DW Steyn, WD Parnell, M Morkel, PL Harris
-Agencies