Smith leads steady start

Graeme Smith capitalised on his good fortune at the toss and led a confident start on a sluggish pitch that started assisting the spinners as early as the first session. South Africa survived a few nervy moments but their ability to put away the loose balls steered them to 80 for 1 at lunch. The pitch didn’t throw up the demons that were predicted but there was enough good news for the spinners early on. India surprisingly went with just two specialist spinners, partly forced by Anil Kumble’s absence owing to injury. Both Harbhajan Singh, who came on as early as the ninth over, and Piyush Chawla extracted turn and bounce from the first-day surface. Chawla snapped up a wicket in his very first over, beating McKenzie with a ripping legbreak and offering Mahendra Singh Dhoni a regulation stumping. Dhoni became the first wicketkeeper to captain India in a Test but he saw his opening bowlers squander the new ball. Sreesanth had a perilously close lbw appeal turned down in the fourth ball of the match - against McKenzie, who shouldered arms to one that came in - but didn’t go on to make the batsmen play enough. Ishant Sharma cranked up close to 140kph but his loose balls, especially those on the pads, were clattered away. His six-over spell cost 35 and played a big part in South Africa easing in. This was only the seventh Test Kumble had missed at home and India could well feel his absence as the game wears on (it was also the first time since 1990 that India went into a home Test without both Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar). Harbhajan beat the bat on a few occasions, and managed both turn and bounce. But Smith made sure he cashed in on every chance to score, using the quick outfield to his advantage. He clipped the leg-side balls effortlessly and also showed his preference for the sweep. With such a long stride forward, he also negated the chance of being given out lbw. Smith will no doubt understand the importance of batting first, on a strip that may only get slower and lower. While South Africa didn’t make any changes from the side that pulled off an emphatic innings win in Ahmedabad, India decided to change three personnel. RP Singh and Irfan Pathan made way for Ishant and Yuvraj Singh, the extra batsman. Ishant returns after a two-Test break, owing to injury, while Yuvraj got a chance after being jettisoned after the infamous Sydney Test earlier in the year. source: google news http://blogs.mindbodynsoul.com http://www.commonwealthtv.tv Tags:blogs: cricket captain COMMON WEALTH CURRENT NEWS dhoni INDIA injury sydney test wicket keeper

Listen Now:

Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 7:32 am and is filed under CURRENT NEWS AFFAIRS, COMMON WEALTH, INDIA, CURRENT NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Smith leads steady start”

ykuwijyse Says:
August 22nd, 2009 at 9:32 am
ykuwijyse…

Blood Street Knowledge …
dofonovema Says:
September 24th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
dofonovema…

lincoln square and imax …

Common Wealth TV

Smith leads steady start

2 Responses to “Smith leads steady start”