INDIA VS SOUTHAFRICA 2 TEST

India recover after Amla and Petersen tons


South Africa 266 for 9 (Amla 114, Petersen 100, Harbhajan 3-60, Zaheer 3-77) v India
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Hawkeye

They must have read about it. They must have heard about it. They must have planned for it. Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla have played a Test there before. Nothing, though, can be enough preparation for an Indian comeback from the dead at Eden Gardens.

On Sunday, South Africa met the devil himself, and didn't know what to do. They had reached 218 for 1 in 58 overs, via assured and quick centuries from Amla and debutant Alviro Petersen, when the famous Eden Gardens turnaround began. Eight wickets fell for 43 runs, Harbhajan Singh took three in two overs, VVS Laxman took a stunning running-back catch, the crowd seemingly intimidated the batsmen, two of the middle-order just froze, AB de Villiers ran himself out, Zaheer Khan hit with a direct pick-up-and-throw, and the batsmen forgot about scoring.

And by the way, there were only about 35,000 present in the ground because half the stands have been brought down for renovation. And it was virtually a two-man attack, with Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra looking innocuous for the better part of their day.


Tea South Africa 228 for 2 (Amla 114*, Kallis 0*, Zaheer 2-69) v India


One man without an average in this series and another without a Test average before he took guard gave South Africa a superb start in their quest to become the No. 1 team in the ICC rankings. Coming in at the early fall of Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla started as if 253 not out overnight, and took his tally to 367 unbeaten runs for the series. Alviro Petersen, a late bloomer in first-class cricket, took little time to get into his stride and became only the third South African to score a century on Test debut.

India surprisingly persisted with two bowlers short on confidence and on success, and Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra took the tally of wicketless overs between them to 110 in the series. Apart from a testing mid-afternoon mini spell from Ishant, and the odd delivery that misbehaved, India were almost a two-man attack. Those two men created three opportunities: Zaheer Khan bowled Smith with a beauty and got Petersen immediately after his century, but VVS Laxman dropped Amla off Harbhajan Singh when the batsman was on 60.

Nothing should be taken away from Petersen and Amla, though. On a hazy Kolkata morning, they batted with the clarity of thought that is the hallmark of teams way ahead in a contest. When they came together at 9 for 1, Zaheer had just consumed Smith as is his wont. Petersen could have got out for a first-ball duck had India a bat-pad in place. Both of them counterattacked - without fuss, without manic hitting, without needing to go in the air - bringing up the 100 in 20 overs, hitting 17 boundaries in that period.

Ten of those boundaries came from Petersen, who scored a 55-ball half-century in his first session of Test cricket. He was composed and decisive in his footwork. After that awkward first delivery, he got going with a leg-glance off a leg-stump half-volley from Ishant. It only got better for Petersen after that, and worse for Ishant.

The first sighting revealed Petersen as a man who likes to get on to the front foot whenever he can. The pace bowlers saw his liking for the front foot and tried to test him with the bouncer early on. Petersen didn't shy away from pulling them in front of square for two boundaries.

Petersen's game plan remained the same: press forward whenever possible, defend if the line is good, and go for runs if it is either too wide or too straight. No runs down the ground, four flicks for boundaries, and two gorgeous cover-drives worked fine for him in the first half of his effort, after which he became more circumspect and let Amla lead the scoring.

Unlike with Petersen, the first ball that Amla faced told a lot about what was to come. He moved across to Zaheer, and eased an accurate delivery past square leg for two - not much power, just good timing. The two gorgeous cover-drives he played early on in the innings, one each against Zaheer and Ishant, put him into the high strike-rate mode too. Throughout his effort Amla confidently whipped from in front of stumps, and cut with supreme ease.

Towards the end of the first session, they enjoyed some good fortune: a couple of inside edges from Amla missed the stumps, and Petersen - 47 then - survived an lbw shout against Mishra, the kind the umpires are inclined to giving nowadays despite the big stride.

Post lunch, Mishra started with an over that summed up his day. A couple of good sliders, three accurate deliveries, and then short and wide and cut away for four. He went for nine boundaries and a six in 17 overs, that despite Petersen slowing down when he neared his century. One of those boundaries was a lovely straight-drive by Amla, having stepped out of the crease and got right to the pitch of it.

Around that time, Harbhajan Singh was getting good drift and bounce, and bowled a good line wide of off even as Amla looked to get across and negate the lbw. The edge was produced and grassed at first slip. Harbhajan still kept it tight with Amla, enough to make him play his first aerial shot of the series. Agonisingly for India, the hit cleared mid-off, Mishra, by inches, and took Amla to 80, having overtaken Petersen.

By the time Amla played another aerial shot, this time a six to a long hop from Mishra, both the batsmen had reached their centuries without incident. Ishant had troubled Amla with a spell of bouncers, and then become too predictable by pitching almost every delivery of that spell in his half. But India had slowed South Africa down with just 23 runs in eight overs around that spell. Zaheer then came out to take Petersen with one that seamed away slightly and took the edge. There were signs that the momentum could swing the other way, but Amla signalled otherwise with that six.
source-cricinfo