Amla boosts South Africa with double ton
Hashim Amla smashed his maiden double-century to put South Africa in
the driver's seat on the second day of the first Test against India on
Sunday.
Amla hit 22 fours in his unbeaten 253-run knock as the tourists
posted an imposing 558-6 before declaring their first innings 26 minutes
before scheduled close of play.
At stumps, India were 25-0 with Gautam Gambhir batting on 12 and
Virender Sehwag on nine on a slow track at the Vidarbha Cricket
Association stadium in Nagpur.
It was Amla who stole the show with his remarkable innings which came
off 473 balls during a more than 11-hour stay at the wicket. The
right-hander shared 340 runs for the third wicket with Jacques Kallis
(173) and another 108 runs for the fourth with AB de Villiers (53) to
put India's bowling attack to the sword.
Amla, 26, reached the 200-run mark in his 42nd Test in style, driving
part-time spinner Virender Sehwag (1-55) for a scorching four through
the covers.
De Villiers completed his 21st Test half-century before edging Sehwag
to backward point where debutant Subramaniam Badrinath took a simple
catch. He hit five fours in his 88-ball knock.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (2-166) earned India the second success
in the post-lunch session when he trapped Jean-Paul Duminy plumb in
front of the wicket for nine.
Left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan (3-96) picked his first wicket of the
day when he had Mark Boucher (39) caught by Amit Mishra at cover after
he had added 78 runs for the sixth wicket with Amla.
After toiling without success for two sessions on Saturday, India
finally got the key wicket of Kallis in the morning when Harbhajan had
him caught by Murali Vijay.
Kallis, eyeing his first Test double century, got a thick inside edge
on to the pad which popped up to Vijay at short-leg.
He was able to add only 14 runs to his overnight score of 159. Amla
was lucky to survive at the other end after Vijay dropped a sitter off
Harbhajan when the batsman was on 149.
The second and final Test between the world's top two teams begins in
Kolkata on February 14. South Africa can snatch back the number one Test
ranking from India if they win the series while the hosts need just a
draw to remain on top.
NAGPUR, India, Sunday - AFP
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