India vs South Africa: First Test, Day 1

Is betting legalised in India? I hope not, but sincerely wish it was when the first Test started this morning. The morning started with a bang (actually two bangs) from Zaheer and the way Amit Mishra was turning, I would have bet my measly reserves in the bank that India would start their innings today itself.

Fortunately betting is not legal in India and I resist myself indulging in illegal activities . For I would have lost all my savings.

That, to me, summed up the brilliance of Jacques Kallis. Add Hashim Amla to that list for the day. Zaheer’s double blow reduced South Africa to 2/6 by the seventh over of the day, but that was the last sniff that India had of the wickets today.

Mishra and Harbhajan were introduced early into the first session, and they were turning the balls prodigiously providing enough hints of wickets falling. But Kallis and Amla smothered all and sundry coming their way, clobbering some beyond the ropes, placing the rests in the open spaces for singles and twos. It suddenly seemed that the VCA ground at Nagpur was proving to be too huge to be covered by MS Dhoni and company.

Kallis was that lethal on the bowlers. No wonder he cracked up his 34th Test century to touch the other two greats Sunil Gavaskar and Brian Lara. Amla notched up his seventh and the two have so far added 285 runs for the third wicket. There has been quiet a few near misses, but the two went on with dogged perseverance outliving the threat of a turning wicket.

The first day of the first Test match certainly belonged to South Africa – especially to Jacques Kallis. As a Royal Challenger I would like to Kallis going full throttle. But I would happier to see India wresting the initiative as quickly as possible on Day 2.

Where should I put my money on then? Any suggestions!

Brief Scores:

South Africa (1st Innings): 291/2 (Kallis 159*, Amla 115*, Zaheer 2/67)