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NEWS India-South Africa Series 2006>India restrict South Africa in Durban 26th Dec 2006 22.39 IST By Manish Kumar Another good display by the bowlers helped India seize the initiative on the first day of the second Test at Kingsmead in Durban on December 26. Though Ashwell Prince is still at the crease on an unbeaten 98, the Indian bowlers kept making crucial breakthroughs at regular intervals to restrict South Africa to 257/8 in their first innings when play was called off early due to bad light.
But the story of the series has been Smith being Zaheer Khan ’s bunny and today was no different. The Protean skipper tried to hit his way out of trouble by pulling a delivery from Zaheer, instead got an edge that saw the ball go flying away over the slips. Sachin Tendulkar ran from first slip and took a brilliant catch running backwards to continue the story of Smith (5) losing his wicket to Zaheer. Zaheer struck again soon after by trapping Hashim Amla (1) plumb in front of the wicket. Last Test hero S Sreesanth was off-colour to start off today, Rahul Dravid changed his ends and that yielded results immediately as the Kerala pacer took his first wicket as AB de Villiers (9) edged to first slip for Sachin to take the catch. After losing the toss and then having three wickets in the first session, India were more than happy. Herschelle Gibbs and Prince steadied the South African ship after Lunch by adding 94 runs for the fourth wicket. Gibbs, who bagged a pair in the last Test, was very cautious to start with and slowly and steadily reached his half-century. But soon after, Gibbs threw caution to the wind and started playing his shots and that resulted in his downfall. Just as the partnership was assuming significant proportions, Gibbs (63) played a loose shot – a flamboyant pull to a wide delivery by Sreesanth, only managed a thick outside edge and Mahendra Dhoni did the rest by diving to his right and taking a good catch. Prince then got together with Mark Edward Boucher and put on 100 runs for the fifth wicket during which both batsmen reached their half-centuries and denied the Indians any more breakthroughs in the second session of the day. But after Tea, Sreesanth struck again with a superb incutter that went through the gap between Boucher’s (53) bat and pad and castled his stumps. Vikram Rajvir Singh bowled superbly throughout and got the wicket of Shaun Maclean Pollock (11) who was caught brilliantly by Virender Shewag at backward point. Anil Kumble then got into the act and dismissed Andrew Hall (lbw for a duck) and Andre Nel (bowled for a duck) in the same over to reduce South Africa to 257/8. It was at the stage that the umpires offered the light to the batsmen and Prince, who has played superbly for his 98, along with Morne Morkel, walked off the field. Play will start sixteen minutes earlier tomorrow to make up for the lost time. 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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