The Hindu : Sport : It’s 10,000 runs and 25th century for Dravid

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It’s 10,000 runs and 25th century for Dravid

Nandita Sridhar

Steyn and Ntini lead South Africa’s fightback; McKenzie scores second half-century

— Photo: K. Pichumani

BIG STRIKE: Makhaya Nitini (right) being congratulated by teammates after dismissing Sachin Tendulkar on the fourth day of the first Test on Saturday.

Chennai: Rahul Dravid scored 10,000 Test runs and his 25th century at the M.A. Chidamabaram Stadium here on Saturday. But the South Africans restricted the Indians at 627 and made 131 for one in their second innings at close.

Going nearly a year without a century, Dravid cut a relieved picture on reaching his hundred. He cut out the frills with solid defence. His technical mastery is rejoiced for being so impenetrable. When he doesn’t score, he’s criticised for being laboured and slow. Most bat their way out of poor form. Dravid needs to gnaw at it, block by block, till he’s back in his comfort zone.

The firmness of his hitting was encouraging, especially against Makhaya Ntini. The former Indian captain had his moments of indiscretion. He did get beaten but didn’t retreat into a shell. Dale Steyn was driven with confidence, Paul Harris was cut with authority and Jacques Kallis was flicked with ease. The drive, which stood by him in good earnest, took him past 10,000 runs to join Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Allan Border and Steve Waugh.

Makhaya Ntini’s success against Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar made Dravid concentrate more and his confidence grew with survival. Dravid’s 111 took 291 balls, which included 15 fours.

Sehwag falls

Virender Sehwag looked set to walk the path of luminaries. He flicked his first ball to better his highest score, which is an Indian record. After conceding a lot of runs on the third day, Ntini bowled a stifling line. The ball was of good length and Sehwag responded with a drive. The resultant edge was collected by Neil McKenzie at first slip to end one of the most thrilling exhibitions of batting at 319.

Sachin Tendulkar walked out to a deafening applause. Backed by his achievements at Chepauk and recent successes he moved a tad for what should have been a cover drive, instead the ball found the edge and Jacques Kallis gleefully accepted the catch at slips off Ntini. The double-strike was tough on the near-capacity crowd.

Ntini welcomed Sourav Ganguly with a short ball. The left-hander had a trouble-free period against left-arm spinner Paul Harris even using the off-side to parade his talent. But a quick one from Harris caught him off-guard into attempting the cut. Mark Boucher took the catch without much difficulty.

Laxman entertains

V.V.S. Laxman was in his element after lunch. Harris’s first over gave him enough width to play his shots. Harris was quick in response and took a leg-stump line. The stylish batsman flicked it to the boundary.

Ntini coerced Dravid to play a drive. The edge was collected by Kallis.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s adventurous reverse-sweep off Harris thrilled his adopted city.

Dhoni tried matching Dale Steyn’s fury by charging down but met with a bouncer he struggled to evade. The second attempt failed when he awkwardly moved to glove the ball to Boucher.

Steyn took care of the tail. Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and R.P. Singh were bullied for a lack of defence. He out-paced them to leave behind a dishevelled sets of stumps. Steyn had managed four wickets in 21 balls, giving away just four runs. Not for the first time in his career, Laxman found himself in the company of tailenders. His innings ended when he misjudged Harris’s spin while attempting runs in the leg-side. Harris took the return catch.

Sreesanth and R.P. Singh began replied poorly with the ball for India. Their largesse was well used by Neil McKenzie, who scored his second half-century after Graeme Smith erred in picking Harbhajan Singh’s delivery that straightened.

The pitch, having suppressed the core of its being for three days, finally released a puff of dust on day four. Harbhajan and Anil Kumble promise an exciting final day.

SCOREBOARD South Africa — 1st innings: 540.

India — 1st innings: W. Jaffer c Kallis b Harris 73, V. Sehwag c McKenzie b Ntini 319, R. Dravid c Kallis b Ntini 111, S. Tendulkar c Kallis b Ntini 0, S. Ganguly c Boucher b Harris 24, V.V.S. Laxman c & b Harris 39, M. Dhoni c Boucher b Steyn 16, A. Kumble b Steyn 3, Harbhajan b Steyn 0, R.P. Singh b Steyn 0, S. Sreesanth (not out) 4, Extras (b-20, lb-10, w-4, nb-4) 38; Total (in 155.1 overs): 627.

Fall of wickets: 1-213 (Jaffer), 2-481 (Sehwag), 3-481 (Tendulkar), 4-526 (Ganguly), 5-573 (Dravid), 6-598 (Dhoni), 7-610 (Kumble), 8-610 (H. Singh), 9-612 (R.P. Singh).

South Africa bowling: Steyn 32-3-103-4, Ntini 28-3-128-3, Morkel 25-4-76-0, Harris 53.1-6-203-3, Kallis 14-0-71-0, Prince 3-0-16-0.

South Africa — 2nd innings: N. McKenzie (batting) 59, G. Smith lbw b Harbhajan 35, H. Amla (batting) 35, Extras (lb-2): 2; Total (for one wkt. in 33 overs): 131.

Fall of wicket: 1-53 (Smith).

India bowling: Sreesanth 6-0-28-0, R.P. Singh 4-0-27-0, Harbhajan 10-1-40-1, Ganguly 2-1-1-0, Kumble 10-0-27-0, Sehwag 1-0-6-0.

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