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December 27, 2006 (Link to Scorecard)

Bad light has once again intervened in the proceedings of the second test match at Kingsmead in Durban. Yesterday's play saw 27 overs lost due to it and today it got in very early to have the action cut to just over 52 overs. The test match is intensely poised with both sides having equal opportunities of getting into the Driver's Seat. But as of now SA are better placed with India at a shaky 103 for 3 in reply to South Africa's first innings total of 328. Sachin Tendulkar is holding India's fortunes with a gritty innings despite having a bruised right hand thumb.

The Indians have batted out little under 39 overs to get the 103 runs and had lost Sehwag, Dravid and Jaffer. Virender Sehwag was out for a first ball duck after he played an expansive drive first up to a delivery that could have been well left alone from Andre Nel in the first over of the innings. AB de Villiers flew to his right in the slips to pluck a stunning catch to dismiss Sehwag. Once again Shaun Pollock wasn't given the new ball and that was a move that only favoured the tourists. Both Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel looked the same, banging the pitch bowlers. There wasn't any movement for them off the pitch and obviously in the air. India lost its second wicket in Rahul Dravid after the lunch break with Umpire Mark Benson making an atrocious lbw decision. It was a short of length delivery from Nel that had nipped back to rap Dravid (11) above his knee roll and would have gone well over the top of the stumps. An unfortunate decision it was from the Umpire which has the potential of being a turning point in the series.

India was in a nervous position with the next man in Sachin Tendulkar coming in with a bad thumb which got black and blue while attempting a slip catch in the first day's play. The South Africans couldn't get another quick wicket with Wasim Jaffer looking compact and Tendulkar like always very disciplined. After lunch, the same pattern continued and Tendulkar cut loose against the newbie, Morne Morkel who was taken out of the attack having given away 27 in 4 overs. Morkel was bowling at around 140kmph and was consistently getting the ball to hit Boucher's gloves, but he wasn't consistently making the batsmen play. A bowling change at this stage did the trick for Smith with Wasim Jaffer getting drawn into a loose drive away from his body to edge Ntini to de Villiers. India were back in the dumps at 61 for 3 and the fielding side was right on top with their vocal chords. Jaffer had thrown his wicket away having worked very hard to get to a start, he could just end up with 26 which had five sweet boundaries.

The experienced duo of Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman batted with comfort on a track that was good for batting. There weren't any demons in the pitch and it was simple application that was required from the pair to keep the bowlers at bay. The South Africans did everything from stares to non stop chatter from behind the stumps, but none of these could disturb the focus of Tendulkar and Laxman. With the light fading rapidly, it was just matter of time before the light was offered and the batsmen took the right decision of walking away. Tendulkar is four runs short of a half century which has deserted him since his last 13 innings. He did have a life when he was dropped by Graeme Smith in the slips off Andrew Hall, a sitter of a catch it was to a man under pressure, Graeme Smith.

It was pretty dark when the batsmen had walked off the park and they got booed by the crowd, but the Indian team will not be bothered about it and will take the fight to the next day to see if they can get into a commanding position on the third day. They need to score a big first innings total to put the South African batsmen under pressure when they start off in their second essay. As things stand by the wicket is full of runs but the batsmen will have to earn them by biding their time rather than go for the extravagant strokes.

Earlier in the day, South Africa's last two wickets added as many as 71 runs! Ashwell Prince completed his 5th test match century and was the first to depart today. He got dismissed throwing his bat at a full and wide delivery from Sreesanth to the slips having got to 121. His partnership with the left handed Morne Morkel was worth 39 runs. The last pair of Ntini and Morkel just didn't give it away and were engaged into an entertaining stand as both the tail enders played some delightful shots to cheer up their mates in the dressing room. The last wicket finally fell in the 19th over of the day when Anil Kumble trapped Ntini (16) with his traditional skidder. Morne Morkel remained unbeaten on 31 and he sure is an all rounder in the making for SA. Sreesanth failed to take his second five-wicket haul and had to be satisfied with four for 109 in 24 overs. Kumble had taken three vital wickets as it turned out to be and he was very economical going for only 62 in 28.3 overs.

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