South Africa can look back with satisfaction on the opening day of thefirst Test against India
Anand Vasu24-Feb-2000South Africa can look back with satisfaction on the opening day of thefirst Test against India. At the Wankhede stadium on Thursday, theydismissed the home team for 225 runs and replied with 27 for no losswhen stumps were drawn. Even this total was made possible only becauseof a brilliant 97 by Sachin Tendulkar and a last wicket partnership of52 runs between Ajit Agarkar and debutant Murali Kartik.Tendulkar won the toss and India opened with VVS Laxman and anotherdebutant Wasim Jaffar. Allan Donald, getting good lift off the wicketonce again made it clear that he can be a handful on anywicket. Although he did stray down the leg side initially, the batsmenwere forced to play at the ball, offering strokes and not makingcontact on more than one occasion. Shaun Pollock however came close topicking up the first wicket when Wasim Jaffer closed the face of hisbat too early on a full delivery. The ball flew off the outside edgebetween first and second slip. Lance Klusener diving across to hisright got his hands to the ball but could not hold on to the catch.The batsmen were being squared up time and time again by thebowlers. Donald who had bowled well within himself in the matchagainst the Board President’s XI generated express pace. His bouncersvirtually flew off the wicket, sending Jaffer scurrying for cover.The first wicket fell in the fifth over, as a nervous Jaffer playedaround an in coming delivery from Donald. The ball clipped the insideedge before removing the bails. It was a disappointing debut for theMumbai lad as he managed just four runs.Pollock, who did not play the tour game did not have Donald’s fierypace but made up in accuracy and movement what he lacked in pace. TheIndians were in all manner of discomfort and it took Laxman 20deliveries before he could get off the mark by playing the ballthought the vacant third man area for four.Rahul Dravid who had come in at one drop showed no intent of doinganything other than defending the ball. In an attempt to see off thenew ball, Dravid crept into his shell. Though he looked far moreunsure, Laxman at least looked to score when the ball was up for theshot.Donald’s first spell in the series was a tight one. His six overs costjust nine runs and included the scalp of Wasim Jaffer.The first commanding stroke of the day came off a wide Lance Klusenerdelivery in the 13th over. Dravid got quickly to the pitch of the balland drove it square of the wicket to the point fence.India had somehow stumbled to 37/1 at the first drinks break. VVSLaxman after playing and missing endlessly was on 15 and a steadyRahul Dravid had 12 runs to his name.After making his way patchily but quickly to 15, Laxman could add justone run to his aggregate before he played a loose shot and gave hiswicket away. Playing away from the body at a delivery wide outside offstump, Laxman could only manage a thick edge. His foot was not to thepitch of the ball and the edge flew to Eksteen in the slip cordon. TheSouth Africans don’t miss catches like those and Laxman’s 81 minuteessay of 16 had come to an end.At 39/2 with the crowd roaring behind him, Tendulkar walked out to themiddle. Lance Klusener kept the ball right up to the bat and that is aploy that often proves to be an expensive one. Dravid took toKlusener’s bowling and was comfortable enough to pick consecutiveboundaries off the medium pacer.Tendulkar started quietly, but signaled his arrival at the wicket witha crisply timed drive through the off side that raced to the extracover fence. All Jacques Kallis could do was watch with hands on hipsas the ball beat the fielder on the off side.Donald was summoned back into the attack in the 23rd over and foundthat bowling to Tendulkar and Dravid was not quite the same as bowlingto Laxman and Jaffer. Tendulkar was unfazed by the bouncers Donald wassending down and was keen to make use of any opportunities to keep thescoreboard ticking over. When Donald drifted onto the leg stump,Tendulkar was quick to whip the ball away through mid wicket. Afterpicking up two runs in this fashion, Tendulkar did one step better,timing the ball perfectly and picking up four off an identical shot.The much talked about Tendulkar versus Donald battle began inearnest. Donald followed up every other bouncer with a couple of quickwords. However, the fact that he let Tendulkar get so many runsthrough the on side eased the pressure considerably. Kallis on theother hand bowled a tight first spell and went in to lunch withfigures of 6-4-6-1.Shortly before lunch India got their first taste of spin in the formof Clive Eksteen. Relieved to face the spinner, the Indians took fiveruns off Eksteen in his first over. At lunch, India were making slowbut steady progress at 69/2. Dravid had 22 runs to is name whileTendulkar looked comfortable on 21.South Africa reverted to their ace fast bowlers straight up afterlunch. Donald responded well to his captain’s call by removing therock solid Rahul Dravid soon after the break. Dravid playing down thewrong line was undone by an incoming delivery from Donald. The ballbeat the Karnataka batsman for pace and he was clean bowled throughthe gate. His patient 22 took all of 111 minutes.As his replacement at the wicket, the ‘Prince of Calcutta’ SouravGanguly walked out. He left the ball well alone more often than notand took 20 balls to just get off the mark. Having done that byelegantly turning the ball around the corner, Ganguly proceeded togift Pollock his wicket. Driving uppishly at a full delivery outsideoff stump, he ended up hitting the ball straight down Strydom’s throatat mid off.Donald’s second spell rivaled his first. This time around he was a bitmore expensive, but 6-3-11-1 are figures any captain will settle for.Tendulkar continued to go strong against the bowling. A viciouslypulled six over mid wicket took him past the half century mark. His 50came off just 61 balls and included seven boundaries and the one six -proof of the high percentage of runs in boundaries.Jadeja who was initially not even in the 14 man squad came in next andgot off the mark off the very first delivery he played. Trying to easethe ball through the off side, Jadeja began with a streaky boundarythrough the third man region. Soon after, he should have been makingthe long walk to the pavilion, but a bit of sloppy work by MarkBoucher let him off the hook. The ball flew off the edge and Boucherwas very late in reacting. He got a glove to it, but could not hold onto the ball which ran away past first slip. When drinks were takenafter 41 overs, India were in a less than convincing position at111/4.By tea, it was very much the Tendulkar show that kept India going. Atotally unconvincing Ajay Jadeja was at the wicket with the Indiancaptain. Tendulkar had moved on to 78 and looked good for a long stayat the crease. He was especially good against the spinners, toyingwith Clive Eksteen, who went for 26 runs off his six overs. AgainstAllan Donald, Tendulkar was not as comfortable and was almostdismissed attempting an expansive drive. A ball well outside off stumptempted Tendulkar into the drive. While umpire Venkat declaredTendulkar not out, Donald was visibly agitated and believed he hadgotten his man. Even television replays did not conclusively suggestthat the ball had come off the edge.Jadeja on twelve was barely keeping Tendulkar company. At tea Indiawere 142/4.The last session was a genuinely interesting one. Jadeja has made a career of promising much and delivering little in Test cricket. In another display that suggested that he may not be up to the scratch in the highest level of the game, Jadeja potted around for 12 off 59 balls before he fell to a gentle medium pacer from Cronje.Nayan Mongia, who was spoken of as a possible candidate to open theinnings made a duck as the probing line and length of Cronje got thebetter of him. Fending at the very first ball he faced, Mongia did nottrouble the scorers. Boucher completed the easiest of catches behindthe wicket to dismiss his Indian counterpart.On a hat trick, Cronje almost had his prize when Kumble swished airily at the first ball he faced. Luckily for him and India, his foot was not close enough to the ball and he did not manage to edge the ball.Tendulkar, who was batting well, fell just three runs short of whatwould have been a well deserved hundred. Unable to resist the temptation to flash, Tendulkar was caught behind off the bowling of Kallis. Tendulkar’sinnings was the backbone of the innings like countless times before.It took only one ball for Kallis to clean up Javagal Srinath. A full,straight ball was more than Srinath could handle and the stumps were amess before his bat came down on the ball.Just when it looked like things would be over in a hurry, AjitAgarkar, coming off a positively shocking series with the bat inAustralia lit up the stands with a sparkling innings. Debutant MuraliKartik showed no sign of nerves and partnered Agarkar well. Agarkardrove and flicked with gay abandon, notching up an unbeaten, almostrun a ball 41. Kartik was finally undone by a Pollock straight ballthat pegged his stumps back. By this time he had stuck around for 51minutes, made 14 runs and most importantly shared a 52 run last wicketpartnership with Agarkar.All out for 225, India left South Africa with eight overs to playout. Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs did that with consummate easeas Srinath and Agarkar bowled without purpose. The Indian speedstersbowled a majority of their deliveries wide of the stumps and the SouthAfricans were hardly made to struggle.Mohammed Kaif, T Kumaran and Nikhil Chopra were left out of theside. Wasim Jaffer and Murali Kartik were the debutants for India.For South Africa, Nantie Hayward can consider himself unlucky to beleft out after his good showing in the match against the BoardPresident’s XI. Boeta Dippenar and Daryll Cullinan will also have tocontent watching the match from the confines of the pavilion. Cullinanwho sustained a groin strain at the beginning of the tour has notrecovered in time.