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The third and final Test at the Green Park is tantalizingly poised with both sides placed in an equally good and bad position. At stumps on the second day, India's first innings has had a similar story to that of the South Africans. The only difference is that they are 23 runs ahead of South Africa's 265 and have got the last wicket in hand. It could have been a bad day for India, they could have so easily had conceded a significant lead for the Proteas. But when the going gets tough, the tough get going. The Prince of Kolkata - Sourav Ganguly batted bravely to come up with a precious 87 despite coming into middle immediately after Rahul Dravid was hit badly on his wrist by a nasty delivery.

The Indian openers - Wasim Jaffer and Virender Sehwag had started off on a positive note this morning, but both couldn't last long enough to steal the initiative. In the 5th over, a sharp inswinger from Steyn caught Sehwag (8 from 14) plumb in front and a few overs later, it was Jaffer's (15 from 34) turn to be rapped up on the pads to a Morne Morkel delivery. India slipped to 35 for 2. At this stage, the best two Indian batsmen under pressure joined each other and India were getting some solidity. The pair was Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman which took the homeside to a better looking 88 for 2 in 29 overs at lunch.

VVS Laxman exuded confidence with his technically good strokeplay while Rahul Dravid stood like a rock. Just when things started to look easy, came a brute of a delivery from the tall Morne Morkel that took off out of nowhere to hit Dravid on his gloves. Dravid was doing the right thing in trying to come forward, it was just the 'Demons' in the pitch that had misbehaved. India's No.3 had battled hard surviving 106 balls and making 29 out of a 78-run stand with Laxman. Dravid was injured badly by that Morkel delivery which exploded off the track with lot of dust. The next man, Ganguly being a left hander had the luck of the bowlers being slightly off target. He used that to good effect. However, India received a big blow when VVS Laxman got an absolute beauty from Morne Morkel which cleaned up his stumps. Morkel had got the ball to angle into Laxman and then got it to deviate away a fraction to get past the batsman's defence. Laxman was looking ominous till then with his 50 (from 103 balls with 7 fours).

At 123 for 4, India were looking down at the barrel with only the flamboyant trio of Ganguly, Yuvraj and Dhoni left. Fortunately enough, Ganguly batted with lot of discipline and yet dispatching the loose deliveries. He got the necessary support from Yuvraj until the latter played an immature shot to gift his wicket away to Paul Harris. Yuvraj (32 from 57 with 6 fours) fell playing a needless big shot after Tea to have his team back in trouble at 188 for 5. The South Africans couldn't yet run through the Indian batting as Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to fight it out for his team along with the experienced Ganguly. The partnership between the two survived the reverse swing and was taking India closer and closer to the 265 mark. Like Yuvraj, Dhoni also had a rush of blood to lose his wicket to the left arm spin of Paul Harris. Dhoni had come down the track for a big one but only to be stranded by the sharp turn off the track. He also made 32 (from 54 balls with 5 fours) like Yuvraj.

Sourav Ganguly lost two more partners in Harbhajan (lbw to a delivery that kept low from Steyn) and Piyush Chawla (caught at mid on to a pull off Ntini) in quick succession. With that India's chances of gaining a sizeable lead vanished and it needed Ganguly to play some calculated big shots before the inevitable happens against the second new ball. In his first attempt itself, Ganguly miscued and got caught by Amla at deep cover. The left hander was approaching a hundred at that stage and it was a selfless shot at that stage. Ganguly's 89 came in 119 balls with 9 fours and a six. The last pair of Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma batted with determination to survive the remaining 11 balls of the day's play. India ended at 288 for 9 in 88 overs. Steyn and Morkel did the damage taking three wickets each for SA.

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