Rise and shine

Source: Mumbai Mirror     Date: December 29, 2006  

Sourav Ganguly stood at the crease for a whole minute, staring alternately at the pitch and the umpire. He had been bamboozled by Makhaya Ntini with a vicious short ball, which jumped off a length and spooned to the gully fielder after pecking his bat. But Ganguly didn’t want to walk back the pavilion. He just stayed there, blinking in shock.

Life can give you a second chance, the former Indian skipper is himself a living example of that. But yesterday, as he was told to “Get off!” by a fan, it was wishful thinking on Ganguly’s part that umpire Ian Howell would give him another opportunity to build on his impressive Wanderers comeback.

The fall of his wicket – not just the timing but also the manner – has played its part in putting India on the back foot after three curtailed days in the second test here at Kingsmead. With the Proteas now 152 ahead with all 10 wickets still in hand, it’ll take something special from the Men in Blue to come out of Durban unscathed. To put it in Bollywood parlance: Ab dawaa ke saath dua ki zarurat hai.

The day started with a world of opportunities ahead of India. Sachin Tendulkar, for the first time this year, was looking like the batsman he once used to be. His opening boundary, a powerful straight punch off Ntini that brought up his maiden half-century of 2006, seemed to set the tone for a batting master class.

But the man with 35 test centuries, his record being rapidly eaten into by Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara, didn’t get anywhere close to a bar-raising three-figure mark. He fell for 63, getting the faintest of touches to Ntini while trying to both pull away and have a poke at a ball in the offside corridor.

GREEN MAMBA

With Tendulkar’s departure, the track suddenly seemed to change — a clear example of how cricket is played in the mind. From a nice, flat wicket, it transformed into the famous ‘Green Mamba’ of Durban, promising plenty of pace and bounce in the overcast conditions.

Ganguly went two balls later as India nosedived to 125 for five. And they were lucky that Mahendra Singh Dhoni, caught dead in front by Andrel Nel, avoided the ignominy of a duck thanks to umpire Asad Rauf.

Dhoni, being Dhoni, didn’t think about the reprieve at all as he quickly cantered his way to a 37-ball 34. He hit seven fours, adding 54 invaluable runs with Laxman before he was caught in slips while trying his off-side jab once too often against debutant paceman Morne Morkel.

Kumble and Zaheer Khan came and went but S Sreesanth’s (28) sudden prowess with the bat, and the continuation of his Wanderers gamesmanship with Nel, gave India some crucial late runs. They finally folded up for 240, conceding a first-innings lead of 88, with Laxman unbeaten on another gritty 50.

The 32-year-old from Hyderabad really makes us wonder what the team management was thinking when it had kept him out, midway through the season, in favour of a fifth bowler. As things stand, with 348 runs in his last four tests at an average of 58.0, Laxman should be the India’s first batting selection because of the assurance he brings to the lineup.

GRAEME ON

The resumption of South Africa’s second innings also meant the next act in the Graeme Smith drama. The Proteas skipper, in the worst form of his life, got more than his fair share of taunts and boos when he stepped in to bat.

First ball, perfect forward defence; a raucous round of applause. Next ball, rapped on the pads; laughter. Smith, still on naught in the third over, edged Zaheer Khan to second slip but the ball landed just inches short of Wasim Jaffer; insults started pouring in. This kept going until Smith flicked Sreesanth through the on-side for a spectacular boundary that must have given him a lot of confidence.

There were other close calls too, but Smith put in a lot of hard work to survive till stumps. The Proteas were 64 without loss when bad light finally stopped play after a series of ayes and nays, with AB DeVilliers on 31 and the skipper on 28.

Zaheer was brilliant again in his opening spell of 9-4-18-0. But Team India will need the other bowlers to stand up and be counter tomorrow if they want to go to Cape Town still ahead in the series. Perhaps Anil Kumble? There is a good rough on both sides of the wicket, so he could run through the hosts. But, like Ganguly yesterday, that might just be our wishful thinking.