A chanceless 159 from Hashim Amla, buttressed by vital contributions fromMark Boucher and AB de Villiers, was the springboard for South Africa todominate
The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran in Chennai 27-Mar-2008
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Hashim Amla brought up his first hundred against India as South Africa continued to dominate © AFP
A chanceless 159 from Hashim Amla, buttressed by vital contributions fromMark Boucher and AB de Villiers, was the springboard for South Africa todominate the first two sessions of the second day, but India’s openersthen inflicted some punishment of their own on a dozy pitch where thebowlers were seldom more than peripheral players. By the time stumps weredrawn, with four of the scheduled 90 overs still to be bowled, India hadknocked off 82 in pursuit of an imposing South African total.Amla’s superb innings spanned 262 balls and ended only with a runout, but there was still time for Boucher, who made 70, and Morne Morkel,with a brisk 35, to flog sagging spirits before Harbhajan Singh returnedto mop up the tail and finish with 5 for 164. The 100 minutes of battingthat India faced had the potential to be tricky, but Sehwag’s insoucianceand Jaffer’s elegance made light of the challenge posed by a three-manpace attack.Sehwag started with a crisp cover-drive for four before rocking back tocarve Makhaya Ntini over third man for six. A magnificent square drive offDale Steyn and a couple of rasping cuts also roused the crowd, and Jafferwas quick to follow suit at the other end.There was a gorgeous on-drive off Steyn, and an unexpected slap over thirdman for six as Ntini again dropped short. The first 10 overs produced 47runs, and though Ntini and Morkel exerted more control in the final hour,Sehwag still found time to slash over point and drive languidly throughthe covers on his way to a half-century from just 59 balls.The run glut helped India forget a wretched fielding display, with runsleaked in every conceivable fashion. After 19 had been conceded inthe opening three overs, the new ball was taken. There was no immediatereward, though both Amla and de Villiers were extremely fortunate to seethick outside edges fall short of the slip cordon and speed to the rope atthird man.There was nothing fortuitous, however, about the three gorgeouscover-drives with which Amla, unbeaten on 85 overnight, reached hishundred. Sreesanth, as he had on the opening day, tried to do too much,and Amla cashed in with superb timing. He reached his century in 173balls, and India’s plight then got worse as de Villiers cut and pulled theinsipid RP Singh for fours.With such tripe being dished out, it was hard to see where a breakthroughwould come from, but Anil Kumble kept faith in Sreesanth and was soonrewarded for it. After a couple of entirely unnecessary sledges in thedirection of de Villiers, Sreesanth suddenly remembered that wickets aretaken with the ball and not the mouth. A superb delivery just outside offstump induced the edge and Dhoni dived to his right to hold-on.With the fast bowlers leaking runs, Kumble turned to the medium pace ofSourav Ganguly. The over-rate was abysmal and wasn’t helped by a ballchange and frequent consultations with the fielders, and Sreesanth’s lucktoo ran out as Boucher edged one and then survived a huge leg-before shoutcourtesy the thinnest of inside edges.By the time Kumble pressed himself into the attack with Harbhajan, South Africa had cruised past 400, and it only got worse on a real dog-day afternoon for the home side.
Mark Boucher helped himself to a fluent 70 © AFP
Amla’s grip on proceedings was absolute, and with RP and Sreesanthproviding comical examples of how not to stop the ball in the outfield,the scoreboard ticked along merrily. The ease with which the runs came wasembarrassing and Kumble was reduced to bowling into the pads from roundthe wicket to try and limit the damage.Sreesanth was brought back for another burst, but both batsmen continuedto cut and nudge at will on a pitch that might as well have been a fluffypillow. In such situations, the fielding side can only pray and any divineentreaties were answered with Amla being run out. Boucher played the ballinto the vicinity of Sreesanth at cover and though he threw to the wrongend, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was alert enough to rifle the ball through toKumble, who did the rest.Amla, whose ancestors went to the Cape from Surat a few generations ago,left to a richly deserved standing ovation, but India’s misery was farfrom over. Morkel was gifted a full toss by Sreesanth to get off the mark,and two confident off-drives further ruined RP’s woeful afternoon. Boucherand Morkel stretched the partnership to 54 before Boucher’s attempt toswipe Sehwag over midwicket ballooned off the top edge to Rahul Dravidbehind the stumps.Morkel then chipped a return catch to Harbhajan and it was left to Steynto swell the total a little more with some hefty slogs, the pick of whichwas an impudent reverse-slog-sweep off Harbhajan. Harris, reprievedearlier after gloving one to slip, was caught behind, and Harbhajan thenhad Steyn caught in the deep to end the innings. By then though, Indiawere playing catch-up.
