Truly a Giant!! Jacques Kallis did a VVS Laxman (of Durban) today - adding close to eighty runs with the help of the last two wickets in the first innings today. But, in the bargain, South Africa lost a bowler who could bowl quick for 8-10 overs in a day. They also lost a fantastic slip fielder forcing AB De Viliers to field at slips (and then dropping Gautam Gambhir off the bowling of Tsotsobe).
Lady-luck seems to be smiling on the Indians this test match. Not only did they manage to restrict South Africa to 362 (after overnight score of 232-4) today, they started batting on a track bathed in sunlight after the cloudy day yesterday. The loss of Kallis, the bowler, is going to hurt South Africa tomorrow as well.
The wicket seems to have flattened out and removed any sort of movement that was visible in the morning today. The toss was crucial for MSD to win yesterday - the early help to the bowlers helping the Indians control the direction the match started (though they could have done a better job). Sreesanth came out blazing today and restricted the Proteans in the morning today till Kallis did his mono-act once again. He scored yet another century, bringing him on par with Ricky Ponting. Add the 200+ wickets he has taken in test matches - truly a fantastic all-rounder in the mould of the yesteryears' Botham, Imran, Kapil and Hadlee if not the legendary Gary Sobers.
If Greame Smith is becoming the bunny of Zaheer, Sehwag is following his example to become one against Steyn. Rahul Dravid decided to show his running skills and became run-out for the 52nd time in international matches. Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar came together to take the initiative further - scoring runs at a fair clip first but reducing the run-rate towards the close of the day.
With three days to go, the match seems to be in a good position for both sides. If the Indians can take a lead of around one hundred in the test, they will be in a spot to create history. The weather helped the Indians today and if it continues the same way, the advantage will continue to remain with the Indians.
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