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NEWS India-South Africa Series 2006>Laxman, Sreesanth put India in control at the Wanderers 17th Dec 2006 22.39 IST By Manish Kumar Good displays by VVS Laxman with the bat and S Sreesanth with the ball on the third day kept India in control of the first Test against South Africa at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on December 17. Laxman top scored for India, while Sreesanth took three wickets as South Africa were set 402 runs to win.
Shaun Maclean Pollock struck early in the day when he had Dhoni (18) caught behind by Mark Verdon Boucher and Andre Nel accounted for the wicket of Anil Kumble (1) soon after to place India at 148/7. It was Zaheer Khan who revived the Indian fortunes with Laxman as the pair put on a very valuable partnership of 70 runs for the eighth wicket. Laxman completed his 26th half-century in Test cricket with an edge to third man for four. Zaheer hit two huge sixes off SA skipper Graeme Smith and with the help of three more fours scored 37 runs. Makhaya Ntini then struck a double blow in one over by first having Laxman (73) caught at first slip by Smith and two balls later had Zaheer (37) caught behind by Boucher. It was the pair of Sreesanth and Vikram Rajvir Singh that took the victory target for South Africa over the 400-run mark. Sreesanth struck a six off Nel and Singh hit two fours in his score of 11, before he was run out. India were bowled out for 236 runs in their second innings that left South Africa a victory target of 402 runs – the highest score ever to be chased at the Wanderers. South Africa had just one over to play before Lunch and that was more than enough for Zaheer to get a breakthrough as Herschelle Gibbs bagged a pair by edging the fourth ball of the innings to first slip for Sachin Tendulkar to take the catch. After Lunch, Virender Shewag took a stunning catch diving to his right to dismiss Smith (10) off Sreesanth. The Kerala speedster struck again by having Hashim Amla (17) caught behind by Dhoni soon after. But the wicket that would have given Sreesanth the most satisfaction was the one of Jacques Henry Kallis as it was well planned and the veteran and the best batsman in the South African team fell for it. Sreesanth bowled a couple of inswingers and then an outswinger away from Kallis (27), who went for the shot but edged it to third slip for Sourav Ganguly to take the catch. Zaheer then ran out AB de Villiers by a direct hit to reduce South Africa to 120/5. At Stumps on Day Three, South Africa are 163/5 with Ashwell Prince (54) and Boucher (23) at the crease and need 239 more runs to win – a highly improbable task. Also View In-Depth Coverage: India-South Africa Series 2006 Team Page: India Team Page: South Africa | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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