NAGPUR : India's Harbhajan Singh dismissed Jacques Kallis for 173 before South Africa reached a strong 379-3 at lunch on the second day of the first Test on Sunday.
Kallis smashed 15 fours and two sixes in his impressive 351-ball knock and also shared 340 runs for the third wicket with Hashim Amla, who was going strong on 170 at the break.
Their stand was the highest for South Africa for any wicket against India, bettering the previous partnership of 256 runs between Kallis and AB de Villiers at Ahmedabad in 2008.
After toiling without success for two sessions on Saturday, India finally got the key wicket of Kallis when off-spinner Harbhajan (1-115) had him caught by Murali Vijay.
Kallis, eyeing a maiden double century, got a thick inside edge on to the pad which popped up to Vijay at short-leg. He was only able to add 14 runs to his overnight score of 159.
Amla was lucky to survive at the other end after Vijay dropped a sitter off Harbhajan when the batsman was on 149.
Resuming at the overnight 291-2, Kallis and Amla negotiated the first hour of the morning session with caution.
Amla was troubled by the odd turning ball on a couple of occasions and could manage only six runs in the first six overs of spin.
But he grew in confidence, pulling and driving India's Zaheer Khan (2-86) for two fours in an over. He has so far hit 16 fours in his unfinished 326-ball knock.
De Villiers was batting on 17 with two fours at the break with Amla.
The second and final Test between the world's top two teams begins in Kolkata on February 14.
South Africa can snatch back the number one Test ranking from India if they win the series while the hosts need just a draw to remain on top.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010 |
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