Cricket Blog

What happened on the first day, was repeated on Day 2. The pitch has become unplayable after just 2 days. Batsmen who are not technically strong - beware. This pitch is going to keep on getting worse with each passing second.

India started the day disastrously by losing both the openers cheaply. However, the combo of Dravid and Laxman saved them the blushes. The two put on a crucial 78 run partnership. However, both fell in quick succession, leaving Ganguly and Yuvraj to build up another partnership. Laxman’s innings was pure bliss for a Test cricket spectator. It had all his trademark shots and then a few. He made batting look easy as compared to Dravid who, I might add, played one of his grittiest innings to date.

Yuvraj’s inclusion in this test certainly raised quite a few eyebrows, including mine. To replace Irfan Pathan, who was in terrific form with the bat in the second test, with Yuvraj was a major gamble. But then again the skipper for this match is Dhoni, and its a no-brainer how Yuvraj was given a berth in the playing XI. However, with all said and done, the Kings XI captain played an important role in his partnership with Ganguly. Where Dravid was rock solid, Yuvraj was in full flow. His cover drives and pull shots were there. What really annoyed me was the way he got out, clearly indicating that he still has to work on his temperament if he wants a permanent position in the test side.

Dhoni then joined Ganguly and was at ease playing on this wicket. Had it not been for a rash shot at the most crucial of stages, India could have had complete control over this match. Having said that, Dhoni was quick in his run scoring and the partnership was the fastest of this match so far.

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A good day for India after they lost the toss. Graeme Smith’s luck with the coin continued yesterday as he won a crucial toss on a pitch that would deteriorate from the first day itself. There was no exception to this as the spinners played an important part in India’s bowling performance.

The opening pair of Smith and Mckenzie started strongly, putting on another 50 plus partnership. Then Amla and Smith combined to score 91 runs. At this stage the South Africans were looking to run away with the match. India had other ideas. Dhoni captaining for the first time in tests, brought in Yuvraj Singh who provided the breakthrough by getting Smith straight away. Amla was then bowled by an Ishant special. Kallis followed soon after. South Africa tumbled down to 161-4 as they lost 3 quick wickets in the space of 5 overs.

Prince, de Villiers, Boucher and Morkel all got starts but none went on to score anything considerable. For India, Harbhajan Singh and young Piyush Chawla combined to pick up 5 wickets. Ishant got 3 to his name and 1 each to Yuvraj and Sehwag. India should now look to capitalise on this strong bowling performance. Any lead would be handy, however a lead of 150 should be match winning. On the other hand, the pitch has had pretty variable bounce on Day 1 itself, so the South African fast bowlers would be looking to use that to their advantage.

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Part 1

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Part 1: 52 not out

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Day 2 Highlights from Chennai

Part 1

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