Pollock delighted with overdue 10-wicket haul

South Africa captain Shaun Pollock expressed his satisfaction at finally picking up a 10-wicket haul in Tests after his side beat India by nine wickets in the first Test on Tuesday.

Resuming on 96 for one on the fourth morning, India were dismissed for 237 in their second innings, Pollock taking six for 56 to go with his first innings four for 91.

Needing just 54 for victory, South Africa breezed home with the loss of just one wicket.

"It's been helluva overdue," Pollock said about his 10-wicket performance.

"I've been close a couple of times and there have been a few frustrating things which have gone wrong when I've had nine, so it's nice to finally achieve it."

On Tuesday, Pollock saw a catch go down off his bowling when he needed just one more victim to reach the 10-wicket mark.

He admitted that at one stage he thought his luck might be out again.

"I did think I was going to be frustrated again. I thought that someone was against me, but I've got it now and I'm happy," Pollock said.

South Africa won the match inside four days despite seeing India amass 372 for seven on the first day after Pollock won the toss and put the tourists into bat.

FIGHT BACK

The skipper said he was particularly happy with the way his side turned the game around so quickly.

"If you want to be the best in the world you've got to learn to win from all different situations, and to fight back the way we did and come out on top is all credit to the guys and the way they played.

"We did find ourselves in a difficult situation after their first innings, but the guys fought back and batted really superbly and then we bowled really well in the second innings.

"It's all about being able to turn things around and making sure you come out on top," Pollock said.

Indian captain Saurav Ganguly said afterwards South Africa's batsmen had been the difference between the two sides.

"I thought they batted us out of the game," Ganguly said.

"Once they had scored 560-odd we were always against it because they are a good bowling side, they're very disciplined in their length and line.

"Once they had that lead we knew we had to do really well because it was not an easy pitch to bat on."

WRONG ATTACK

India coach John Wright appeared to concede afterwards that opting to play left arm seamers Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan instead of right arm paceman Ajit Agarkar was a mistake.

Both Nehra and Zaheer were short of match practice, while Agarkar played a major part in India's performances in the one-day triangular which preceded the tournament.

"You learn lessons and being match fit is probably better than being net fit.

"Ajit has done nothing wrong on this tour and I feel very sorry for him because he missed out and the two bowlers we put faith in we would have wanted better performances from," Wright said.

India play a four-day match against South Africa 'A' in East London starting on Saturday, before the second test in Port Elizabeth starting on November 16.

India's tour of South Africa : Complete coverage

Mail Cricket Editor