Draivd's ton puts India in good position

Prem Panicker

With two whole hours lost to overnight rain, India picked up where they had left off yesterday, and batted itself into a position from where they cannot lose this game even if they want to.

In the process, India had one major gain, when Rahul Dravid not only got the century that has eluded him since his debut against England last year, but went on to play an innings of monumental patience that will do the team morale a world of good going into the tour against the West Indies.

To offset which, India had a setback of sorts when V V S Laxman took a nasty blow from a lifter on his hand, and broke the metatarsal bone of the left hand, which will keep him out of action for the next three weeks.

Given that Laxman was rather unlikely to play the forthcoming one day series anyway, the injury does not affect the team's prospects to quite the extent it could have, though it does give the young batsman a rather painful reminder of how difficult cricket at the highest level can be.

Interestingly, on the day, each successive batsman with the exception of Azharuddin kept putting partnerships together, batting with application - and suddenly, the team that had been bowled out twice inside three days batted through two full days despite losing a frontline batsman through injury.

One does make allowance for the fact that the Indian team is only now getting used to conditions - but then again, it is impossible to escape the thought that half this application, displayed at Cape Town especially in the second innings, and the scoreline would now be reading 1-0 for SA, and not 2-0.

In the event, here is how it happened on the day...

Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid began proceedings, with the former on 68 and the latter on 81. Dravid appeared to have figured out that his priority, for the first hour of play, was to see Donald off. Ganguly, though, has one fatal weakness which, ironically, is also his greatest strength - the left-hander is so good with the drive on the off side that he tends to get carried away and play it to deliveries that are too far to drive.

Ganguly did it again today, going after a Klusener delivery and giving a regulation catch to Brian McMillan at second slip after adding five runs to his overnight total. And this dismissal, a carbon copy of other recent ones, should at the least teach him the wisdom of being more selective in which balls he will drive.

In the event, that brought Azharuddin to the wicket. A square driven four began proceedings, off Klusener, then in the next over Donald was off driven with fluent ease for two fours, then by way of variety square driven for one more.

Klusener then came back to bounce one and yet again, Azhar went for the pull from outside off, top edged, and gave Andrew Hudson a regulation catch at mid on after a bright but too brief cameo. The pity was that on this wicket, if Azhar had taken just a little more time to sight the ball, he could have gone on forever.

Another example of the former captain's "lack of commitment"? I suspect not - Azhar is not the world's best defensive batsman, and so maybe the Indian team should give him his head for if he clicks, he destroys the bowling as few others today can. And given that Azhar is an iffy proposition, the younger ones should then be prepared to bat around him, making up on the occasions when he gets out early.

Laxman it was who stepped into the breach, and to his luck, a lifter from Klusener crashed into his glove, jamming his fingers against the bat handle and cracking the bone, to have him retiring after facing just four balls.

But if the sight of three batsmen walking back into the pavilion within the first hour of play was all too familiar, then first Kumble, then Srinath, ensured against a quick fold-up by playing with concentration, application and, given the two thumping defeats earlier, surprising confidence. SA bowlers, meanwhile, made their task a shade easier by spraying the ball around as on day one, and operating for the most part with defensive field settings that seemed rather inexplicable. The obvious ploy would have been to try and bowl the tailenders out, but Cronje for reasons he knows best went the defensive route, even opting to bowl himself for rather a long spell.

At the other end, Rahul Dravid finally came good. The 25-year-old's promise has been evident from the moment he first stepped out to bat for India, but in recent innings, he has tended to be overly cautious, obviously looking to play himself into that one big score he needs. Here, on the day, he was cautious again, but not unduly so. If the ball was outside the stumps, he let them through. Good deliveries on the stumps were defended with confidence. And anything halfway loose was punished - the square drive and cut, the cover drive, off drive, on drive, flick through midwicket off the pads, the pull and the glance played with perfect poise and timing to fetch him 21 fours in the arc spanning from third man to fine leg.

The real value of this innings, though, is its duration. Dravid began batting at the fall of Rathore yesterday morning, and was last out, off a tired off drive at Cronje, just when the umpires were debating whether to adjourn play due to bad light. And in that time, he was blemishless, not offering a single chance - and this is what the team has lacked in recent outings, one man prepared to go out there and stay out there irregardless of the wicket and the bowling.

With Laxman out of action, the Indian innings ended effectively at the fall of the ninth wicket, and the umpires promptly ended play for the day.

So where do we stand?

Hard to escape the conclusion that India, at this point, has the upper hand in the game. SA's first target, when it opens its first innings tomorrow, is to get 211 runs to avoid the follow on. Which, it must be mentioned, is not too hard a job on this wicket, which has continued to play easy on day two.

However, here come the "ifs" that need to be taken into account...

If the Indian bowlers Srinath and Prasad keep the ball up to the bat, make the batsmen play right from ball one, then the swing and seam movement available on this wicket gives them a chance to get early wickets - more so if, as on this morning, there is a cloud cover.

If Ganesh can bowl line and length and bottle one end up, then Anil Kumble for once will find himself on a wicket that suits him more than the ones at Durban and Cape Town did. For unlike those two centres, here his flat, fast line won't come through at a nice hittable height to the batsman, and Kumble bowling over the wicket on this track could surprise those who have tended to write him off after his failures in the first two Tests.

For SA, the key figures could be Hudson, an obdurate batsman who, once over his opening nerves, can play with patience and concentration; Bacher, a most unflappable and technically competent young man on the make; and Brian McMillan, riding the confidence of his recent run of big scores.

So there we have it - a situation where, leading into day three, all things are possible.

Did I say all? All except the one thing many feared - that India would lose 3-0 - for a win for South Africa, from here on, is hard to imagine.

Chances then are in favour of a draw... provided the SA batsmen play out the first hour or so tomorrow morning without any alarms.

We'll see soon enough, won't we?

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