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South Africa V India - First Test: Day 2

Around an year ago Ian  Chappell stated that there is a need for two world class bowlers in the team to sustain the number 1 ranking. A lot of people then scoffed at him and said he was plain jealous but then it was seen and felt today that what he said was right

India played like a shadow of the number 1 team they are. They folded up with the day just three balls old and the new ball bowlers did nothing to make it count and to make things worse the debutant did not just have enough pace to trouble the batsman

Graeme Smith and Peterson saw out the new ball and then started to express themselves as the shine went off the ball. Petersen was fluent with the drives and Smith as usual was strong square of the wicket. Not even a single ball from the seamers troubled them

The introduction of Harbhajan into the attack turned into a run fest as he pitched short repeatedly to Smith who had no hesitations in cashing on. Peterson also slog swept Harbhajan for a huge six. It seemed like India were in for a long haul as Smith and Peterson crossed their half-centuries. It did not help that India's fielding was not upto the mark- Dhoni dropped Petersen of Harbhajan


Harbhajan provided some relief for the visitors when he foxed Smith with bounce and forced him to edge. Peterson showed a lot of grace by walking of an inside edge as the umpire seemed to be a touch unsure


Then began the Amla-Kallis combine that continued to pound India throughout the day. Kallis began aggressively and maintained it right through as he reached his fastest century (He has scored 38 of them now). He attacked and pulled Raina out of the bowling duties and was beaten only once by Sachin's googly in the entire innings


Amla played an uncharacteristic innings as he played and missed a lot of pull shots. Credit to him that he stuck it out there and returned to fluent ways as he too notched up a century. Both these batsmen will ensure that India chase leather on the third day too


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