SA press on the advantage as India face whitewash

BANGALORE, MARCH 5: If India lived to fight another day, it was almostentirely due to the Mohammed Azharuddin. The 37-year-old Hyderabadi ...

BANGALORE, MARCH 5: If India lived to fight another day, it was almostentirely due to the Mohammed Azharuddin. The 37-year-old Hyderabadi turnedthe clock back half a dozen years to come up with a batting display thatgave the Bangalore crowd something to cheer about in this second Test.

When Azharuddin walked out to bat during the post-lunch session, India werein dire straits. Trailing by 321 runs, the spectators had been silenced bythe dismissal of Rahul Dravid, Wasim Jaffer and Saurav Ganguly. The old firmof Sachin Tendulkar and Azharuddin were in the middle and in many ways,resembled the last hope of this Indian team salvaging some pride.

For a while, it seemed that Tendulkar would play. He concentrated hard,handled the deliveries that popped up every now and then well, and timedsome lovely shots. But suddenly, he chased at a wide delivery and came acropper. That deflated the crowd totally.

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The two Mohammeds, Azharuddin and Kaif, came together and batted inremarkably similar fashion. Kaif, one of the heroes of the Under-19 WorldCup triumph, handled the pacemen and the spin of Nicky Boje quite well. Thefifth-wicket stand prospered to add 49 runs and looked quite comfortablewhen Kaif was trapped in front of the stumps.

It was about this time that Azharuddin had settled in and started to strokethe ball well. Anil Kumble, who came in ahead of an indisposed Nayan Mongia(Dravid kept wickets on resumption this morning), gave Azharuddin excellentsupport and ensured that the match would spill over to the fifth day.

Earlier, after India dismissed South Africa within the first 11 minutes,openers Dravid and Jaffer gave the team its best opening stand in recenttimes. Jaffer batted impressively, punching and pulling Allan Donald. Dravidtoo looked at ease and the duo had weathered the new ball and added 47 runswhen disaster struck.

Dravid, playing half-cock and away from his body, snicked a delivery fromleft-arm spinner Boje to gully. Boje, who must surely be the man of thematch, accounted for Jaffer a run later, when he had him also pouched closein.

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The left-handed Saurav Ganguly padded up awkwardly to Boje, found the ballbeat the front pad and smack him on the back foot in front of the wickets.Ganguly, like Kaif later, showed his dissent at the umpire’s decision andcould come in for censure.

At close, Kumble (14) and Azharuddin (73) had added 52 runs for the sixthwicket. Azharuddin’s fairy tale return to Test arena would be complete if hereaches his ton and takes India to safety.

Scoreboard
India (1st innings): 158South Africa (1st innings; Overnight 472-8):
Kirsten c Jaffer b Kumble (264m, 209b, 7×4) 79
Gibbs lbw Kumble (16m, 12b, 1×4) 4
Boje b Kumble (221m, 198b, 9×4) 85
Kallis c Jaffer b Kumble (432m, 359b, 7×4, 2×6) 95
Cullinan c Jaffer b Kumble (86b, 5×4, 1×6) 53
Klusener c T’kar b Karthik (169b, 5×4, 1×6) 97
Cronje b Srinath (59m, 36b, 2×4) 12
Pollock c Tendulkar b Karthik (19m 15b) 1
Boucher b Karthik (56m, 43b 1×4) 15
Donald lbw Kumble (27m, 25b, 1×4) 7
Hayward not out (4m, 3b) 0
Extras: (24b, 3lb, 4nb) 31
Total (all out in 191.4 overs, 753 mins) 479
Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Gibbs), 2-171 (Boje), 3-186 (Kirsten), 4-271(Cullinan), 5-435 (Klusner), 6-441 (Kallis), 7-449 (Pollock), 8-468(Cronje), 9-477 (Boucher)
Bowling: Srinath 30-6-53-1; Kumble 68.4-15-143-6; Chopra 24-3-78-0;Murali Karthik 50-11-123-3; Tendulkar 10-2-33-0; Ganguly 6-1-18-0; Kaif3-0-4-0
India (2nd innings)
Dravid c Pollock b Boje (78m, 61b, 3×4) 18
Jaffer c Kallis b Boje (96m, 73b, 5×4) 23
Ganguly lbw Boje (62m, 50b, 3×4) 13
Sachin c Gibbs b Donald (76m, 53b, 2×4) 20
Azhar batting 73 (198m, 144b, 10×4, 1×6) 73
Kaif lbw Kallis (82m, 68b, 2×4) 23
Kumble batting 14 (84m, 76b, 2×4) 14
Extras: (4b, 5lb, 3nb) 12
Total (for 5 in 87 overs, 340 mins) 196
Fall of wickets: 1-47 (Dravid), 2-48 (Jaffer), 3-71 (Ganguly), 4-95(Tendulkar), 5-144 (Kaif)
Bowling: Donald 13-5-52-1; Pollock 18-11-21-0; Hayward 16-4-31-0;Boje 31-12-56-3; Cronje 3-0-17-0; Kallis 6-3-10-1.