Indian bounce back in 2nd test after Amla and Petersen century

What a dramatic turnaround for India? At one stage they were looking down and out of the series but their bowlers fought back well on day one to give them upper hand when 1^st day play stopped because of bad light.

South Africa at tea time must be thinking of putting another 500 plus runs on the board in their first inning to put tremendous pressure on the Indians. They were 218/1 at one stage when dramatic collapse started at the historic venue Eden Garden Kolkata. First man to go was the debutant century maker A.Petersen who got out after scoring a superb century on the bowling of Zaheer Khan.

At tea, South Africa reached 228/2 with Hashim Amla going strong on 114 runs with Jaques Kallis on naught. However Zaheek Khan dismissed Hashim Amla just after tea to give India hopes of getting back into the game. Harbhajan Singh who were bowling well today without any luck when given ball after tea responded well to his captain call and removed dangerous J.Kallis (10 runs) to reduce the South African score to 251/4.

V.V.S. Laxman who drop Amla earlier on the bowling of Harbhajan took a very well judge catch of Kallis running from first slip position to short fine leg to make up for his drop catch earlier.

In the very next over, Harbhajan Singh dismissed two South African batsman who are looking very low on confidence at the moment but anyway you have to still bowl right line and length to dismiss the batsman of Duminy and Prince caliber and that what Harbhajan did while bowling to A.Prince and J.P.Duminy removing both of them in successive deliveries to reduce the South African score to 253/6.

In the next over, AB de Villiers wanted a single and the strike, Dale Steyn reckoned there was no need to panic, and sent him back. Zaheer Khan ran in from mid-off to cover, picked up and threw in one motion, and found AB de Villiers short. Ishant and Mishra came back too, getting their first wickets of the series.

At stumps South Africa were struggling at 266/9 with Morkel and Parnell at the crease. Earlier South African captain Graeme Smith once again won the toss and decided to bat first. But his batting failure continues as Zaheer Khan dismissed the South African captain bowled for second successive time in similar fashion.

But debutant A.Petersen (100 runs) and Hashim Amla (114 runs) put on an aggressive partnership of 209 runs for the second wicket before the dramatic collapse ruined their hard-work.

Now, it is a great opportunity for the Indian batsmen to bat out South Africa from the game and level the series 1-1.

Match Summary (Day1 Stump)

South Africa 1^st Inning– 266/9 in 81 Overs

H.Amla- 114                                       A.Petersen– 100

Harbhajan Singh– 23-2-60-3  Zaheer Khan- 21-5-77-3

India v South Africa Day1 Second Test Highlights

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