'Maranamrudangam' is the term used in southern parts of India to describe the 'feeling of knowing one's death beforehand/ technically put the sound of one's death approaching' Indian cricket team did not quite know what hit them on day 3 of the Test match that they ended up conceding a glut of records to the batsmen
The day began on a ominous note for the Indians as Amla seemed to have settled down into a groove that seemed to have avoided him yesterday. He quickly got into the rhythm with his trademark drives. He started off with a superb drive through covers for a boundary and then proceeded to play the scoopy, checked cover drive of his through the covers. What was more heartening to watch was the square cut of SreeSanth and the backfoot strokes by Amla were enough for the Indians to think of another long day of chasing leather
Kallis on the other hand was beaten by a stray delivery but nothing on a regular basis troubled him. Amla was motoring away at the other end. He proceeded to pull and encash on the width provided by SreeSanth
What followed in the next over would make Ishant repeat the routines for some time to come as he bowled one down the leg side and Amla, being in the form that he was tried to flick it and got a faint inside edge back to the skipper keeper Dhoni. If the Indian fielders and bowlers thought they would have some respite, they were forced out of that dream by the aggressive batting by de Villiers
He started off with a fluent off-drive and then proceeded to feast on the width given to him by the Indian bowlers by cutting, driving and then punching them off the backfoot. Kallis at the other end was a little circumspect to begin with. Agreeably so as he has never added more than 37 runs to an overnight century. He collected his runs with well placed singles and couples interspersed with the odd boundary. Unadkat was the only bowler who looked to be troubling him as he beat the outside edge a couple of times
Introduction of spin seemed to have bought the devil out in ABD as he played that superb pick up shot of his to the square-leg boundary for a six and was looking in a murderous mood. He then proceeded to reverse sweep the same bowler for boundary. The refreshing freedom with which ABD was batting seemed to have had a positive effect on Kallis as he too reverse swept Harbhajan in the same over for three runs. Shot for shot as they say
As if to prove to Harbhajan that these shots were not one-off, ABD proceeded to play the pick-up shot and the reverse sweep yet again to a demoralising effect. The best was yet to come as Raina was to come back into the attack
As soon as Raina came into the attack ABD rushed down the track to deposit him over wide long-on. He was lucky that a lofted drive was not sighted by Sreesanth and was not given the charge. Harbhajan got a delivery to spit off the surface to him and again was unlucky not to found an edge of the bat.Then he got Cheeky of Raina as he waited for the ball and opened the face at the last moment to run it down to third man and followed it up with a smashing six to wide long-on
He proceeded to race to his century with a couple of sixes over wide long-on off Raina and he became the fastest South African to get to the century mark and also had the distinction of scoring a century in a session. Kallis at the other end was getting close to his Achilles heel- getting dismissed around the 170 mark and played the period out safely
After lunch Kallis was a little Circumspect to begin with and was lucky that an inside edge did not trickle onto the stumps. He cover drove of Ishant to sweeper cover and then reached his highest score of 190 with a push to the point. When Ishant Sharma and Unadkat provided him width on either side of stumps, Kallis encashed by cutting and flicking the deliveries for boundaries and getting to his first double century
ABD fell when he was looking to drive a fuller ball and found that the outside edge had carried to the keeper. Smith felt that the lead of 484 at this point was enough for his bowler's to have a crack at
It was pretty clear that India would not capitulate the second time around as not only did the pitch lose juice in it but the batsmen seemed intent on not repeating their first innings mistakes. Sehwag was judging and leaving the balls outside off stump to perfection and murdering balls in his region. In this aspect he treated Steyn, Morkel and Tsotsobe in a similar manner
Gambhir at the other end also settled into a good groove as he played his trademark flicks and looked to be untroubled by Morkel the second time around. He kept the strike rotating with cleverly judged singles. Introduction of Harris into the attack bought the twinkled toed Gambhir to the fore as he came down the track and lofted a shot to long-on and then rocked back to cut and finally drove past covers for boundaries
Sehwag and Gambhir were both lucky that Amla and Peterson(twice) dropped catches of them respectively and they did not actually make the reprieves count.
Sehwag looked doubtful of Harris as he looked to flick him and got a leading edge that flew over the head of the bowler and he finally fell to him as he looked to go inside out and could not clear Smith at sweeper cover, who took a good catch running to his left
Harris then began sledging Gambhir and Dravid was hit on the finger by a bouncer from Morkel. Gambhi was beginning to look more assured as he flicked and off-drove Morkel for boundaries. Dravid began to use his feet well as he came down the track and flicked Harris for a boundary and then rocked back to cut him past point. The soft hands of his were back in action again as he ran down a drive to third-man
With both the batsmen looking exceedingly comfortable to face the bowlers, Smith turned to his impact bowler, Steyn and he rewarded him with Gambhir's wicket as he trapped him right in front of the middle stump. Instead of the familar face of Tendulkar greeting the crowd, it was Ishant who walked out to the middle with 40 minutes play left in the day
Dravid had to shield Ishant and also had to keep the scoreboard ticking which he did by unleashing the most ferocious of hooks. Tsotsobe was the bowler to suffer. With 19 minutes of play left in the day, the umpires decided to put a halt to the day's play. So the Indians survive to fight another day and all their hopes hinge on the experienced trio of Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman
Kallis on the other hand was beaten by a stray delivery but nothing on a regular basis troubled him. Amla was motoring away at the other end. He proceeded to pull and encash on the width provided by SreeSanth
What followed in the next over would make Ishant repeat the routines for some time to come as he bowled one down the leg side and Amla, being in the form that he was tried to flick it and got a faint inside edge back to the skipper keeper Dhoni. If the Indian fielders and bowlers thought they would have some respite, they were forced out of that dream by the aggressive batting by de Villiers
Introduction of spin seemed to have bought the devil out in ABD as he played that superb pick up shot of his to the square-leg boundary for a six and was looking in a murderous mood. He then proceeded to reverse sweep the same bowler for boundary. The refreshing freedom with which ABD was batting seemed to have had a positive effect on Kallis as he too reverse swept Harbhajan in the same over for three runs. Shot for shot as they say
As if to prove to Harbhajan that these shots were not one-off, ABD proceeded to play the pick-up shot and the reverse sweep yet again to a demoralising effect. The best was yet to come as Raina was to come back into the attack
As soon as Raina came into the attack ABD rushed down the track to deposit him over wide long-on. He was lucky that a lofted drive was not sighted by Sreesanth and was not given the charge. Harbhajan got a delivery to spit off the surface to him and again was unlucky not to found an edge of the bat.Then he got Cheeky of Raina as he waited for the ball and opened the face at the last moment to run it down to third man and followed it up with a smashing six to wide long-on
After lunch Kallis was a little Circumspect to begin with and was lucky that an inside edge did not trickle onto the stumps. He cover drove of Ishant to sweeper cover and then reached his highest score of 190 with a push to the point. When Ishant Sharma and Unadkat provided him width on either side of stumps, Kallis encashed by cutting and flicking the deliveries for boundaries and getting to his first double century
ABD fell when he was looking to drive a fuller ball and found that the outside edge had carried to the keeper. Smith felt that the lead of 484 at this point was enough for his bowler's to have a crack at
It was pretty clear that India would not capitulate the second time around as not only did the pitch lose juice in it but the batsmen seemed intent on not repeating their first innings mistakes. Sehwag was judging and leaving the balls outside off stump to perfection and murdering balls in his region. In this aspect he treated Steyn, Morkel and Tsotsobe in a similar manner
Gambhir at the other end also settled into a good groove as he played his trademark flicks and looked to be untroubled by Morkel the second time around. He kept the strike rotating with cleverly judged singles. Introduction of Harris into the attack bought the twinkled toed Gambhir to the fore as he came down the track and lofted a shot to long-on and then rocked back to cut and finally drove past covers for boundaries
Sehwag and Gambhir were both lucky that Amla and Peterson(twice) dropped catches of them respectively and they did not actually make the reprieves count.
Sehwag looked doubtful of Harris as he looked to flick him and got a leading edge that flew over the head of the bowler and he finally fell to him as he looked to go inside out and could not clear Smith at sweeper cover, who took a good catch running to his left
Harris then began sledging Gambhir and Dravid was hit on the finger by a bouncer from Morkel. Gambhi was beginning to look more assured as he flicked and off-drove Morkel for boundaries. Dravid began to use his feet well as he came down the track and flicked Harris for a boundary and then rocked back to cut him past point. The soft hands of his were back in action again as he ran down a drive to third-man
With both the batsmen looking exceedingly comfortable to face the bowlers, Smith turned to his impact bowler, Steyn and he rewarded him with Gambhir's wicket as he trapped him right in front of the middle stump. Instead of the familar face of Tendulkar greeting the crowd, it was Ishant who walked out to the middle with 40 minutes play left in the day
Dravid had to shield Ishant and also had to keep the scoreboard ticking which he did by unleashing the most ferocious of hooks. Tsotsobe was the bowler to suffer. With 19 minutes of play left in the day, the umpires decided to put a halt to the day's play. So the Indians survive to fight another day and all their hopes hinge on the experienced trio of Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman
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