Morkel and Steyn destroy Indian batting in first Test
The opening day of the First Test between India and South Africa clearly belonged to the hosts as they demolished the hapless Indian batting line-up for just 136 runs. It was a poor display of batting by the Indians, and all the claims about the South African
tour being the final frontier for the Indians were just answered on the first day of the tour.
This performance once again proved that the Indian batsmen always find it difficult to score on bouncy pitches. For http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 it was yet another professional display of bowling from their fast bowlers, as they showed a lot of variety in their bowling.
Their quick bowlers bowled with a lot of venom, and did not allow the Indian batsmen to settle in bowling friendly conditions. The Indian batsmen didn’t once look comfortable and fell victim to some quality bowling.
India batted first in what appeared to be bowling friendly conditions early on. They were soon finding it quite hard to control the Proteas bowlers, as they persistently tested the Indian batsmen with a lot of swing and short balls. From the first over the
Indian batsmen were in trouble, as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dale-c52110 Steyn bowled with a lot of swing and made the openers uncomfortable early on. His first over set the tone for the rest of the bowlers, as he hit Gautam Gambhir with a rising delivery in his first over. He was rewarded
for some brilliant bowling in his next over, and managed to pick up the prize wicket of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429 for a duck. Sehwag was caught at third man by Hashim Amla when he went for a ball that moved away from him.
This showed the strength of the South African bowling, as they were quite successful in building pressure on the batsmen, which forced the batsmen into making mistakes. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 series, struggled during his stay
at the wicket and made just five runs from 43 balls. He never looked comfortable, and the South Africans continued to test him with short balls. He was dismissed by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Morne-Morkel-c77722 when he went for a loose drive, and was caught at second slip.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rahul-c83321 Dravid to steady the ship for the Indians. Dravid, who is considered India’s Test match specialist, showed some guts and took some pressure off the Indian batsmen. His resistance did not last long
though, as he was trapped leg-before by Morkel for 14.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/VVS-Laxman-c2772 and Tendulkar then put together a brief 39-run partnership for the fourth wicket, and gave some measure of respectability to the total. However Steyn responded strongly, when he bowled Laxman (7) off a straight and fast delivery. The next over,
South Africa had further success when the dangerous Raina was dismissed by Kallis. It was turning out to be a nightmare start for the Indian’s, as they had lost five wickets for just 67 runs.
Sachin Tendulkar played well for his 36, and took the attack to the Proteas. He struck eight boundaries and hit a number of pull shots and drives. However Steyn showed once again why he is considered the world’s best bowler, when he trapped Tendulkar leg
before with the score on 71.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 and Harbhajan Singh then tried to put up a rear guard action with a 39-run partnership for the seventh wicket, but it was not enough to take the Indian team to safety. Harbhajan scored a quick 27, before he was run out by Boucher. Dhoni tried to
support the lower order, but it was not enough to save India from being bundled out in the first innings.
Dhoni only survived four balls on day two, before he was trapped leg before off the bowling of Morkel. The whole Indian line-up was dismissed for just 136, and it was a fine display of quick bowling by the South African frontline bowlers. Morkel and Steyn
were the pick of the bowlers, as they picked up five and three wickets respectively. India will have to bowl really well now to salvage anything out of the game.
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