Steyn
guns down India for 76, SA in command
AHMEDABAD, Apr 3: India’s
much-vaunted batting line-up was blown
away for an embarrassing 76 well inside
the first session and their spineless
capitulation allowed South Africa take
the driver’s seat in the second
cricket Test here today.
After
Indian captain Anil Kumble won the toss
and decided to bat first, the Sardar
Patel Stadium at Motera witnessed an
abject batting surrender as the hosts
were shot out for a dismal 76 runs in
just 20 overs well inside lunch with only
Irfan Pathan (21 not out) and MS Dhoni
(14) managing double-digit scores on day
one of the Test.
Dale Steyn
(5-23) and Makhaya Ntini (3-18) breathed
fire on a wicket that had a tinge of
green on it but certainly no demons to
justify the stunning batting collapse.
In their
reply, South Africa overcame Harbhajan
Singh’s three-wicket burst to finish
the day at a comfortable 223 for 4 to
take a 147-run first innings lead.
Jacques
Kallis (60) and Ab De Villiers (59) were
in the middle when stumps were drawn.
Anil
Kumble’s side suffered the ignominy
of being the first Indian team to be shot
out before lunch on the first day of a
Test.
The
star-studded batting line-up lasted just
109 minutes, second-shortest in terms of
overs after India’s infamous
‘summer of 42’ collapse against
England at Lord’s in 1974 in
bowler-friendly conditions. On that
occasion, India’s second innings
lasted 17 overs, three less than
today’s.
The paltry
total was India’s lowest at home
against the visitors and their
second-worst ever after the 75 made
against the West Indies at Delhi in 1983.
By stumps,
the visitors had taken an iron grip on
the match, after a brief wobble when they
lost three wickets quickly to the off
spin of Harbhajan.
Kallis was
unbeaten on 60 off 124 balls that
included five fours and a six, while De
Villiers’s unbeaten 59 came off 102
balls and had seven fours in it. The duo
have put on 106 runs for the unbroken
fifth wicket in 147 minutes and 205
balls.
It was a
nightmarish performance by the Indian
team which was sans Sachin Tendulkar who
skipped the match with groin injury.
Ntini
started the demolition job and struck
three times in six balls without
conceding a run in his deadly spell to
leave India gasping at 30 for four within
the first 45 minutes.
Ntini
first had Jaffer poking at a ball that
came in slightly to edge low to Graeme
Smith.
Then the
most experienced bowler in the
Proteas’ attack struck two big blows
in the space of three balls which sent V
V S Laxman (3) and Sourav Ganguly (0)
packing.
Laxman
shouldered arms to a ball that pitched
wide, seamed and then swung back to
rattle the stumps while the left-handed
Ganguly was in two minds whether to play
or leave the ball and ended up
inside-edging it on to his stumps.
In
between, Steyn struck the biggest blow as
far as his team was concerned by sending
back Virender Sehwag, their tormentor and
triple centurion in the Chennai Test, for
6.
From 16
for no loss in the fourth over, the
Indian score slumped to 30 for four by
the eighth. It was left to former captain
Rahul Dravid and Dhoni to pull the team
out of the woods with a stand of 23, the
highest in the innings.
The Indian
‘keeper took over the attacking
reins with Dravid stone-walling at the
other end before the latter was castled
by Steyn with the first ball of his
second spell.
In the
alarming situation, Dhoni played a poor
shot to get out. He tried to cut wildly
and was caught behind off Morne Morkel,
who then dismissed Kumble for a duck two
balls later to leave the home team at a
sorry-looking 55 for 7.
Steyn then
snapped up the tail by scalping Harbhajan
Singh (1), R P Singh (0) and S Sreesanth
(0) to terminate the innings eleven
minutes before the lunch break.
In
contrast, the visiting team’s
openers, captain Graeme Smith (34) and
Neil McKenzie (42) by themselves
overhauled the meagre Indian total before
tea by putting on 78 runs at better than
five-an-over, indicating further there
was nothing wrong with the track.
The
left-handed Smith was trapped leg before
by S Sreesanth in the first over of his
second spell with half an hour to go for
tea. When on three, Smith was let off at
short leg by Sourav Ganguly off
Sreesanth.
McKenzie
departed on the stroke of tea, which was
taken at 100 for two, by edging Harbhajan
to Rahul Dravid in the lone slip.
The
off-spinner struck twice in the post-tea
session to send back Hashim Amla (60),
also a centurion at Chennai, and Ashwell
Prince (0) cheaply.
But
Harbhajan, who had taken three wickets on
either side of tea in 20 balls for 11
runs, and the rest of the Indian attack
were then thwarted by Kallis, an
accomplished player in the sub-continent,
and the fleet-footed De Villiers who put
on a century, unfinished stand to help
their team consolidate their strong
position.
India 1st
innings:
Jaffer c
Smith b Ntini 9
Sehwag b Steyn 6
Dravid b Steyn 3
Laxman b Ntini 3
Ganguly b Ntini 0
Dhoni c Boucher b Morkel 14
Pathan not out 21
Kumble b Morkel 0
Harbhajan Singh lbw b Steyn 1
RP Singh c Smith b Steyn 0
S Sreesanth b Steyn 0
Extras (b-4, lb-11, w-2, nb-2) 19 Total
(all out; 20 overs) 76
Fall of
Wickets: 1-16, 2-24, 3-30, 4-30, 5-53,
6-55, 7-55, 8-56, 9-76.
Bowling: D Steyn 8-2-23-5, M Ntini
6-1-18-3, M Morkel 6-1-20-2.
South
Africa 1st innings:
G Smith
lbw b Sreesanth 34
N McKenzie c Dravid b Harbhajan 42
H Amla c Jaffer b Harbhajan 16
J Kallis batting 60
A Prince lbw b Harbhajan 2
Ab De Viliers batting 59
Extra (b-1, lb-7, w-2) 10 Total (for 4
wkts in 64 overs) 223
Fall of
Wkts: 1-78, 2-100, 3-101, 4-117.
Bowling:
Sreesanth 15-3-53-1, RP Singh 13-1-49-0,
Pathan 8-1-37-0, Harbhajan 16-3-49-3,
Kumble 12-0-27-0.(PTI)
Nadal
downs Blake to earn semi-final spot
MIAMI, Apr 3: World number two
Rafael Nadal rallied for a three-set
victory over James Blake to book his
semi-final berth at the ATP and WTA Sony
Ericsson Open.
Nadal,
seeded second behind world number one
Roger Federer, defeated Blake 3-6, 6-3,
6-1 as he moved a step closer to his
first title of 2008.
It was the
Spaniard’s second victory over Blake
in as many starts, following his
quarter-final win over the American at
Indian Wells.
Prior to
that, Blake had won the first three
career meetings between the two.
Nadal
earned the break he needed in the third
game of the of the third set, and held on
to close out the match in 1hr 55min.
Nadal said
the key to his changing fortune against
Blake was a more aggressive, albeit
riskier, stance.
"I
think just before I was running a lot,
two meters behind the line," he
said. "I think right now I’m
playing a little bit more aggressive. I
can lose, but I think it’s the only
way to try to win."
In the
semi-finals, Nadal will face Czech 10th
seed Tomas Berdych, who eliminated
Russian Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-4 in the
day’s other men’s
quarter-final.
In
women’s action, fourth-seeded
Serbian Jelena Jankovic reached the
semi-finals when Russia’s Elena
Dementieva retired while trailing in the
second-set of their quarter-final clash.
Jankovic
led 6-1, 3-1 when Dementieva, battling a
back injury for which she received
treatment after the first set, decided
she couldn’t continue because of
pain in her lower back.
"I
think I played pretty good tennis,
especially in the first set,"
Jankovic said. "I was really
dictating the points.
"It
was my game overall that was out there on
the court, and I was really happy with
that. Unfortunately she stopped the match
in the middle of the second set and
there’s nothing I could do."
Jankovic,
who had saved five match points in her
battling second-round victory over
Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson, booked a
semi-final matchup with Vera Zvonareva,
who beat Russian compatriot Dinara Safina
7-5, 6-4.
Jankovic’s
abbreviated quarter-final echoed her
experience at Indian Wells, where she
reached the semi-finals when American
Lindsay Davenport retired from their
contest with a back injury.
The
Serbian will make her fourth semi-final
appearance of the year but is still
seeking to make her first final of 2008,
having lost in the final four at the
Australian Open, Dubai and Indian Wells.
On
Tuesday, third-seeded Russian Svetlana
Kuznetsova and American Serena Williams,
the eighth seed and defending champion,
advanced to the semi-finals.
Williams
easily defeated world number one Justine
Henin of Belgium, while Kuznetsova downed
Venus Williams in straight sets.
(AGENCIES)
Bhupathi-Knowles
reach Miami semis
NEW DELHI, Apr 3: Mahesh Bhupathi and
Mark Knowles defeated Leander Paes and
Paul Hanley in a keen contest to reach
the men’s doubles semifinals of the
USD 3,77,0000 ATP WTA Sony Ericsson Open
in Miami.
In a
gruelling quarterfinal clash yesterday,
fourth-seeded Bhupathi and his Bahamian
partner Knowles pipped the eight-seeded
Indo-Australian duo of Paes and Hanley
6-2, 6-7 (8), 10-6 to move a step closer
to the title clash.
In the
semifinals, the Indo-Bahamian combine
will meet the sixth-seeded Czech pair of
Martin Damm and Paul Vizner, who faced an
equally tough task while getting past
Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga of
France 6-4, 2-6, 10-4. (PTI)
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