- Scorecard | Images from Day 2
The second day of the third and deciding Test match between India and South Africa at the Green Park stadium on Saturday was tepid to say the least.
But what mattered eventually was the fact that the home team got the lead, albeit just. Replying to the South African first innings total of 265, India ended the day on 288 for nine.
Sourav Ganguly (87) and VVS Laxman (50) were the major contributors in the Indian innings while Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel were the most successful South African bowlers with figures of three for 60 and three for 57 respectively.
Three fifty-plus partnerships -- 78 between Rahul Dravid and Laxman for the third wicket, 65 between Ganguly and Yuvraj for the fifth and 60 between Ganguly and Dhoni for the sixth -- marked the Indian innings.
With the weather getting increasingly hot, the batsmen settled down to play a waiting game and even when they became aggressive, it was either for a short spell or ended with the fall of a wicket, as is aptly suggested by the number of wickets that fell during the day.
Morning session:
It was Wasim Jaffer who faced the ball first -- from Dale Steyn -- and safely negotiated the opening over, the first runs coming off a wide.
Even as Makhaya Ntini came in to bowl the second, the crowd roared in anticipation; after all, Virender Sehwag was facing the ball. And Sehwag duly obliged, his first scoring shot, off the fourth ball he faced, being a sweetly-timed boundary through the covers. He guided another for a boundary over the slips cordon, off Steyn, and the crowd was boisterous.
But it proved to be a false start. Sehwag (8) perished soon enough, misreading Steyn's pace and getting adjudged leg before. India 18 for 1.
Dravid survived an attempt at run-out early on -- Steyn uprooting the stumps at the non-striker's end, but the Indian number three just about making ground. However, South Africa did not have to wait long for the second wicket. A bowling change did the trick.
Morne Morkel was brought in to replace Steyn in the 11th over and he struck with his fourth ball, trapping Jaffer (15) up front. India lost their second wicket with just 35 runs on the board.
In came VVS Laxman and he tried to break the shackles, hitting three boundaries in a Morkel over, as India crossed the 50-run mark. The Hyderabad batsman (33 not out) and Dravid (20 not out) steadied the Indian ship, as they had done on a number of occasions before, with a fifty-plus third-wicket stand.
At lunch, India were 88 for two in 29 overs, the duo doing good repair work after the early damage.
Post-lunch session:
The Indian agenda in this session was ambiguous -- while they were terribly slow at times, they hastened the pace at others. Both Indian batsmen had now settled down well though.
Harris was impressive with the ball but a tad unfortunate. Though the Indian batsmen failed to read him on many occasions but wickets didn't come his way. In the first ball of the 41st over of the innings, his 14th, Harris induced an edge from Laxman but Kallis couldn't hold on to the chance offered.
However, in the first ball of the next over Dravid got a taste of Morkel's pace and offered his wicket in return, getting hurt in the process as well. A good length ball that pitched outside the off stump and rose sharply and hit hard on Dravid's gloves, ricocheting to AB de Villiers at gully and he made no mistake. Dravid walked off in pain as India were reducted to 113 for three.
Laxman soon completed a well-made half-century, his 33rd in Tests and first in Kanpur, and departed almost immediately after, cleaned up by Morkel again. India 123 for four.
It was left to Sourav Ganguly (26 not out) and Yuvraj Singh (21 not out) to give the Indian innings a semblance of stability and credit to both the batsmen for batting aggressively and trying to wrest back the initiative.
It is too early to say if they have succeeded but it is suffice to say that they are in the right direction.
Post tea session:
The final session commenced with the Indian team displaying a more aggressive intent. Both Ganguly and Yuvraj looked to hasten the scoring rate, and consequently the first five overs after tea witnessed an addition of a further 23 runs to the total. And almost every over saw a big hit.
If Yuvraj smashed Harris to the fence in the fourth ball post-tea, Ganguly meted out a similar treatment to Ntini in the next over with a superb cover drive. Yuvraj again hit Harris and Ganguly returned complement by going the distance -- using his feet beautifully against a flighted delivery from Harris to clear the midwicket boundary with effortless ease.
But aggression minus caution is a recipe for disaster and in this case Yuvraj paid the price. While attempting to sweep over deep square leg, he top edged and AB de Villiers made no mistake. The wicket ended a 55-run fifth wicket stand and dented India's hope for a big score considerably. India 188 for 5.
However, it was a sweet reward for Harris who had toiled hard till then sans success. He was replaced immediately after that over (22-7-66-1) but came back again after just five overs as South Africa re-realised his significance on a fast deteriorating surface, as well as the need to finish off overs quickly.
The Indian 200 came in the 65th over and Ganguly's half century, a few runs later. It was the 35-year-old's 34th Test fifty, seventh against South Africa and second at Kanpur, following his 57 in November 2004. Ganguly is yet to score a century against South Africa.
The southpaw put on a 60-run stand with captain MS Dhoni (32) to bring India just 18 runs shy of the South African total before the latter paid the price of over-enthusiasm, getting stumped by Boucher of Harris. India 248 for six.
Smith took the second new ball after 80 overs with Steyn replacing Harris at the Pavilion End and the move did bring in the desired result when the fast bowler trapped Harbhajan Singh (6) in front, soon after India had surpassed the visitor's total. India 268 for seven.
Soon after Piyush Chawla (4) was snapped up by Ntini. India 279 for eight. Ganguly (87), running out of partners, followed in the next ball caught by Hashim Amla at extra cover off Steyn. However, S Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma survived any further damage as India ended the day on 288 for nine in 88 overs.
The day's final session witnessed 123 runs being scored at the cost of five wickets and India leading by 23 runs.