South Africa take 230 runs lead against India

South Africa moved to a position of dominance after unbeaten centuries from Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla gave them a first innings lead of 230 runs with eight wickets in hand against India on the second day of the first cricket Test here Friday.

Jacques Kallis was unbeaten on 102, the fastest of his 38 Test centuries and Hashim Amla was batting on 116 as South Africa were 366 for two at the close of play at the Super Sport Park after bowling out India for 136 runs in the first three balls of the day.

It was a near-perfect day for South Africa as they will now push for an innings win against India. On a sunny second day at SuperSport Park, along with the clouds, the demons on the pitch had gone missing, and South Africa’s batsmen capitalised.

South African openers, Graeme Smith and Alviro Petersen, made half-centuries to nearly equal India’s total on their own, before Amla and Kallis utterly demoralised the world’s No. 1 side with an unbroken 200-run stand.

South African openers were rarely troubled in the course of a century partnership. Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma got the new ball to move, and though the batsmen swished-and-missed some times, there were no genuine chances through much of the morning.

It was the introduction of 19-year-old rookie Jaidev Unadkat that increased the run-flow.

Harbhajan Singh didn’t have the best of starts though, and was slapped for a couple of fours in his first over and then dispatched over midwicket for six in the next. Smith was using the cut effectively against Harbhajan but his downfall minutes before lunch came attempting that shot, top-edging a delivery that bounced extra.

The run flow continued after tea, Kallis and Amla added 130 off 32 overs. The punishing rate was maintained though there wasn’t too much high-risk batting in the final session, with the Indians regularly providing boundary balls.

The duo reached triple-figures towards the end of a flawless day.