RSA 529/7, India 29/3 - end of story

Prem Panicker

The story of day two of the second Test of the Castle Lager series is easily told - for five hours, India played for a draw. And in the last hour, compounded it with enough silly cricket to ensure that even a draw will look optimistic from here on.

There was only one way India would get in trouble in this match - through rank silliness. And with unerring instinct, the touring side choose just that fashion to play itself behind the eight ball, and now faces a task of inhuman proportions to save a Test that, by any logic, could only have been a draw.

Here's how it all happened...

The South African innings

South Africa began the day with Cronje and McMillan at the wicket - and within the first hour, Srinath and Prasad had prised out the former, and also Shaun Pollock, to put the batting side at six down under 300.

If SA declared for the loss of one more wicket, and the addition of 200-plus runs, then the Indians will really need to blame their own attitude in the field.

Cronje's dismissal was a classic, Srinath setting him up with a series of short stuff into the body, the SA skipper repeatedly ducking into the ball and taking it on his body. Came the shorter length ball, Cronje again ducked awkwardly, his bat raised to ward the ball away and the gloved catch to Mongia was easily taken down leg.

Prasad, meanwhile, got his leg cutters going, and both bowlers troubled Pollock with movement off the seam. Prasad had the mortification of seeing Tendulkar grass a catch in the slips, but before the batsman could profit, Prasad got another ball to seam away off a good length, the lift and movement getting the thick edge for Tendulkar to make amends.

From then on, India inexplicably went on the defensive. Anil Kumble, totally ineffective here as he struggled, as on the first day, to keep the ball on the stumps and ended up drifting way down leg side, bowled almost non stop from the second hour of play till the time Tendulkar, in another rather dubious decision, chose to take the new ball at the fag end of the SA innings. And the batsmen made merry, keeping the good balls out and taking runs off the inevitable wayward ones, with the Indians adding their quota of misfields to the equation.

McMillan and Lance Klusener both got hundreds, in contrasting styles.While the big all-rounder played head down, responsible cricket and moved sedately to the landmark, Klusener came in and started blazing away, encouraged by the placement of just one slip despite the ball repeatedly flashing off the edge through where the slip cordon should have been. To Klusener's credit, he hit with total conviction and numbing power, with the result that even the cross bat heaves and inside edges got runs, and when the third new ball was taken, he used the pace of the ball to telling effect, thrusting his front foot out and swinging hard through the line to find the fences and race to his 102 off just 100 balls.

Cronje applied the closure immediately after the two batsmen got to their landmarks, shortly after tea, and quite right too - he would thus be able to give his main bowlers a go at the tired Indians, then bring them back fresh for another spell tomorrow morning.

India's innings

Compounding the confusion for India was the fact that Mongia injured himself in the eye, when a bail richocheted off a direct throw to hit him on the right eyelid. Swelling to the eyelid ensured that Dravid had to keep for the last part of the SA innings, and also ensured that Mongia would not open.

In the event, Dravid walked out with Raman. India's only objective, in the situation, was to play out the 16 overs SA had to bowl to complete the day's quota, but somebody apparently forgot to tell the touring side that.

Raman was the first to go, pushing behind square, then taking off for a non existent second run and finding himself a couple of yards short of making it when Richardson took off the bails off a good throw from Klusener.

Ganguly came out at three, and he and Dravid looked good and solid out there, playing calmly with Ganguly, in particular, fluent outside off stump while Dravid was content to defend and see Donald and Pollock off.

Klusener came on as second change, and resumed the bouncer war with Dravid that the SA bowlers have been keeping up from Durban. Dravid hooked, the ball popped into and out of Donald's hands at backward square. Next ball, Dravid aimed a cut at one outside the off, the like of which he had been comfortably letting go till then - and inner-edged onto his stumps. Why the shot was selected, given that India were not looking for runs at that stage, no one will know. In the event, India was already two down for next to nothing.

The concept of nightwatchman is fair enough - but when one chooses to send out a tailender to play that role, the sensible thing is to pick one who can defend. Venkatesh Prasad is most definitely one of them, and proved it off the first ball from Paul Adams when, even before the bowler delivered the ball, he pushed a foot out, grounded the bat in a parody of a forward defensive stroke, and then watched as the ball moved straight through past the bat to clip back the off stump.

At the close, thus, India finds itself on 29/3, with Tendulkar and Ganguly at the crease.

What was most noticeable was that neither Donald nor Pollock, coming in fresh and with a new ball, looked halfway menacing. The ball came on to bat nice and even, and a batsman halfway competent and wholly committed could have batted on till eternity.

Thus far in this game, though, commitment is a quality the touring Indians have conspicuosly lacked, both in the field and with the bat.

And yet, at close of play, the situation remains the same. True, 529 is a huge first innings total to look at. But the point here is that there are three days to play, on a track that is as flat a batting track as you would like to see. Play out the good balls, tire out the strike bowlers, get the runs off the wayward stuff - this strategy got, for South Africa, three individual hundreds and a mammoth total. The same strategy still holds good for India - the difference being that Donald's grassed catch notwithstanding, the S'African fielders are not prone to dropping any chances. Which means the Indian lineup, what remains of it, will have to play the long, hard game tomorrow, to stay in this match.

The one consolation for the batting side is that this wicket will ease even further. So the onus, finally, falls square on that one element that is unpredictable - application.

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