Proteas dealt twin blows; Khan strikes

Nagpur, February 06: A double strike by Zaheer Khan pegged South Africa on to the backfoot as India made a promising start to the Nagpur Test.

Zaheer Khan first removed Ashwell Prince with a scorcher of a delivery, a bouncer directed at Prince’s face, which rattled the Proteas’ opener, forcing him to use bat as a shield. He ended up scooping a simple catch to behind the stumps to Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Relays however suggested that the ball had hit arm guard. Prince was out for a duck.

Captain Graeme Smith was the next to fall, cleaned bowled off a good length deliver.

He made just 6 runs after having won the toss and opted to take first strike.

The ongoing Test rubber was being dubbed as the unofficial Test championship between world’s number one ranked team- India, and number 2 ranked team- South Africa; got underway at Nagpur.

—-Agencies