Castle Test Series, India vs. South Africa: India’s victory in 2nd Test levels series
In the second match of the Castle Test Series between India and South Africa, the Indian bowlers played a decisive role in earning an 87-run victory for their team at the Kingsmead cricket ground in Durban.
The South Africans were chasing a total of 303 runs, but were bowled out for 215. The Indian bowling attack did not allow the hosts to stay in the middle for longer than an hour after lunch. The attack was spearheaded by veteran
fast bowler Zaheer Khan, who claimed three wickets. S. Sreesanth also took three wickets in the innings, while Harbhajan Singh took two and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566 claimed one.
Chasing such a large total was a uphill task for the South African batting order on a wicket that favoured the bowlers. Ashwell Prince was the top-scorer for the hosts, making an unbeaten 29 runs off 108 balls. Captain Graeme Smith
made 37 runs off 38 and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AB-de-Villiers-c887 put in 33 off 76. Jacques Kallis, who scored his first double century in the first Test at SuperSport Park, could only manage 17 runs in South Africa’s second innings at Kingsmead.
There was a point, when host city Durban witnessed heavy rainfall during the night, when it seemed that the match might end up in a draw. However, the morning brought a clear blue sky.
When play resumed today, on the fourth day of the match, South Africa were 111/3 and still looked like they could give the visitors a tough time, provided they could put up a solid partnership. But the hosts’ confidence crumbled
when they lost the wickets of Kallis and de Villiers early in the day, and the rest of the batting order was bundled back to the pavilion after http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 had managed to add a mere 114 runs to their overnight total.
It is worth mentioning that two controversial umpiring decisions also did great damage to the host team. The first was the LBW decision that led to de Villiers’ dismissal (while video replays suggested that the delivery from Harbhajan
Singh was going over the stumps). The second was also an LBW decision, this time on a delivery by Zaheer Khan to Mark Boucher; video replays showed that the ball seemed to be missing off stump. The decisions caused some apparent frustration to the South Africans,
who seemed to lose the rest of their precious wickets mostly out of nervousness.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750’s win at Kingsmead has now levelled the series 1-1. The third Test of the series will begin at Cape Town on January 2.
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