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December 08, 2006

The Indian Team in South Africa is all set to win its first meaningful game of the tour despite yet another dismal show with the bat. In the second day of their 4-day match against Rest of South Africa at Potchefstroom, as many as seventeen wickets tumbled with seven of them in the Indian second innings. However a superb bowling performance from the Indians in the morning had given them a huge lead of 178 which in the end looks to have kept them in the winning position. Their second innings score at the end of the second day's play is a pathetic 93 for 7 in 40 overs!

The Prince of Kolkata, Sourav Ganguly who struck a brave 83 yesterday was dismissed for a second ball duck today. Tendulkar along with the top order had a consecutive failure in this match. The openers Jaffer and Sehwag fell very soon in the innings to expose the middle order to the new ball. The top scorer for India was Skipper VVS Laxman who scratched around to make 31 having battled out for 103 balls. Alfonso Thomas, the new ball partner of Morne Morkel destroyed the Indian batting line up with 5 for 32 in 15 overs. Test Discard, Nantie Hayward picked up two wickets that of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in the space of three deliveries. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, another big name in the Indian batting line up looked to have counter attacked the bowlers but could just come up with a six and a four scoring 16. Irfan Pathan, the centurion on Day 1 batted comfortably to remain unconquered on 15.

The Indians had declared at their overnight total of 316 for 7 to put the South Africans to bat first thing in the morning. Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan had demolished the top order with their seam movement, the homeside had lost half their side with just 90 on board. It took the Indians just the 31.4 overs to take 10 wickets. For the homeside, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, a 21-year-old left hander had scored an almost run-a-ball 52. Zaheer finished with 2 for 22 in 7 while Sreesanth picked up four for 53 in little under 12 overs. Vikram Singh having his first taste of the South African conditions did well in taking three wickets in 9 overs while Irfan Pathan managed to take a wicket bowling four overs. The match is all set to finish on the third day itself with India, the most likely team to win as they already have a lead of 271 which should be more than handy on this track.

Rest of South Africa : Morne van Wyk (WK), Alviro Peterson, Jean-Paul Duminy, Jacques Rudolph (C), Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Justin Kemp, Alfonso Thomas, Morne Morkel, Nantie Hayward, Friedel de Wet, Paul Adams

Indians : Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, VVS Laxman (C), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Wicket Keeper), Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Vikram Singh

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