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Triple-strike pegs back Proteas
11/04/2008 10:21 - (SA)
Kanpur - Proteas captain Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis have been dismissed in quick succession on day one of the third and final Test in Kanpur on Friday.
Smith was caught by Wasim Jaffer off the bowling of Yuvraj Singh for 69.
Amla was then bowled by Ishant Sharma for 51.
Kallis was then forced to return to the pavilion, bowled by Harbhajan Singh for one.
The not out batsmen are AB de Villiers (3) and Ashwell Prince (10).
The latest available score at tea is 175 for four after 55 overs.
Earlier, Piyush Chawla, a 19-year-old leg-spinner returning to the side after two years, tasted the lone success in the morning session when he had Neil McKenzie (36) stumped by stand-in captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in his first over.
McKenzie and Smith put on 61 for the opening wicket.
South Africa lead 1-0 following their crushing win by an innings and 90 runs in the second Test in Ahmedabad. The first match ended in a draw in Chennai.
India suffered a big blow when captain and key leg-spinner Anil Kumble was ruled out of the match after failing to recover from a groin strain.
The hosts made three changes from the side that lost the second Test as they included fit-again fast bowler Ishant Sharma, Chawla and middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh.
India went into the match with two pacemen and as many spinners on a pitch expected to favour slow bowlers, but there was little for the four-man attack in the morning session.
Left-handed Smith and McKenzie batted sensibly to ensure South Africa do not squander the advantage of batting first on a track lacking both pace and bounce.
Both waited patiently to punish loose deliveries, with McKenzie edging Sharma past third slip for four and then pulling the next delivery for a boundary early in the morning.
India pressed off-spinner Harbhajan Singh into the attack in the ninth over but it was Chawla who provided the breakthrough.
McKenzie fell immediately after driving Chawla for a four. He was beaten by the flight while stepping out to drive the spinner, with Dhoni completing an easy stumping.
Teams:
South Africa:
Graeme Smith (captain), Neil McKenzie, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher, Paul Harris, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini.
India:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid, Venkatsai Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla, Ishant Sharma.
Umpires: Asad Rauf (PAK) and Billy Doctrove (WIS)
TV umpire: G.A. Pratapkumar (IND)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)
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