In his final Test, Jacques Kallis methodically reached yet another half-century and left people wondering why he wasn't carrying on in the longest format.
He remained on course for a farewell hundred, and with the help of AB de Villiers, who conjured a 50-plus score for the 10th Test in a row, took South Africa to a solid position before rain and bad light stopped play an hour after tea. India had begun the day well, with three wickets early on, before Kallis and de Villiers got together and blunted the attack with a 127-run stand.
While an undisputed all-time great, the questions over whether Kallis' batting is dominant enough have never really gone away. Those doubts will be back in circulation after his sluggish scoring rate towards the end of the day. He showed little enterprise against even a part-timer like Rohit Sharma and South Africa scored at below two an over at a time when they needed to get the game moving.
The one bright spot in the Indian attack was Ravindra Jadeja who, in his first Test as the lead spinner, put an end to discussions over whether he should have been picked ahead of R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha. He didn't just play a containing role supporting the quicks; he did contain the runs as he wheeled in over after over, but also made four breakthroughs to make sure South Africa didn't run away with the game.
The most important of those was of de Villiers midway through the second session. South Africa were rattling along at about five an over after lunch, India were looking ragged, and though Jadeja brought in a measure of control, de Villiers had just hit a reverse-swept boundary and the deficit was below 100. Jadeja then got the ball to spin sharply, taking the outside edge through to slip to end a burgeoning partnership.
That sucked the momentum out of the innings, as JP Duminy took his time to settle in and Kallis couldn't force the pace either. Kallis reached his half-century soon after de Villiers' dismissal, but scored just five singles off his next 40 deliveries as Jadeja kept a leash on the scoring. In the 15 post de Villiers overs till tea, South Africa made 27. India opted against the new ball and with Jadeja and Rohit bowling in the fading light, South Africa crawled to 32 off nearly 16 overs, losing Duminy in the process as well.
Progress had been more brisk in the morning from South Africa, before Jadeja's bounce provided the first wicket of the morning. Graeme Smith looked to smash the ball over the leg side, but it hit high on the bat and swirled to midwicket, where Shikhar Dhawan sprinted back and safely collected the ball as it fell over his shoulder.
Hashim Amla's dry spell continued when he played down the wrong line to a Mohammed Shami delivery to lose his offstump, and off the very next ball, the set Alviro Petersen was surprised by the bounce from Jadeja to glove a catch to first slip. Again, it was a sharp catch, with M Vijay diving forward to pouch a low chance. South Africa had lost three wickets for 10 runs and had two new batsmen in the middle,
There was only a small crowd in considering it was an early start, but they made plenty of noise as Kallis walked out to bat and was greeted by a guard of honour from India. The emotion of the moment didn't seem to affect Kallis, as he set about thwarting India's bowlers.
He was helped by the off-colour India attack. Ishant Sharma was back to his profligate self, providing gifts on the leg stump, and Zaheer Khan wasn't able to consistently threaten either. Shami was the pick of the medium-pacers, getting the ball to regularly reverse in and constantly hitting speeds near 140kph.
While Kallis was quiet early on, De Villiers took on Jadeja by lofting him straight towards the sightscreen. Kallis was struck on the arm by Zaheer Khan, and took his time gauging the track before opening up with a couple of cracking aerial hits down the ground off Jadeja. There was also a classic backfoot punch from Kallis off Ishant before lunch, but the strokes were shelved in the final two hours of play, leaving South Africa plenty to do on the fourth morning.
Tea South Africa 267 for 4 (Kallis 61*, Duminy 13*) trail India 334 by 67 runs
In his final Test, Jacques Kallis methodically wore down the Indian attack to reach yet another half-century and leave people wondering why he wasn't carrying on in the longest format. With the help of a typically flamboyant 74 from AB de Villiers, Kallis pushed South Africa to a strong position by tea, just 67 short of India's score.
India had begun the day well, with three wickets early on, before Kallis and de Villiers got together and blunted the attack with a 127-run stand during which the only real chance was a run-out opportunity after some confused calling.
One of the bright spots on the day for India was Ravindra Jadeja, whose accuracy provided the dot-ball pressure that was sorely lacking when the quicks were operating. Wheeling in for over after over, he ensured the match didn't get away from India, not just by limiting the runs but also through important breakthroughs. They were few loose deliveries, and he got through overs in as little as 82 seconds to ease any worry about the over rate.
South Africa's openers began briskly, but Jadeja's bounce provided the first wicket of the morning. Graeme Smith looked to smash the ball over the leg side, but it hit high on the bat and swirled to midwicket, where Shikhar Dhawan sprinted back and safely collected the ball as it fell over his shoulder.
Hashim Amla's dry spell continued when he played down the wrong line to a Mohammed Shami delivery to lose his offstump, and off the very next ball, the set Alviro Petersen was surprised by the bounce from Jadeja to glove a catch to first slip. Again, it was a sharp catch, with M Vijay diving forward to pouch a low chance. South Africa had lost three wickets for 10 runs and had two new batsmen in the middle.
There was only a small crowd in considering it was an early start, but they made plenty of noise as Kallis walked out to bat and was greeted by a guard of honour from India. The emotion of the moment didn't seem to affect Kallis, as he set about thwarting India's bowlers.
He was helped by the off-colour India attack. Ishant Sharma was back to his profligate self, providing gifts on the leg stump, and Zaheer Khan wasn't able to consistently threaten either. Shami was the pick of the medium-pacers, getting the ball to regularly reverse in and constantly hitting speeds near 140kph.
While Kallis was quiet early on, De Villiers took on Jadeja by lofting him straight towards the sightscreen. Kallis was struck on the arm by Zaheer Khan, and took his time gauging the track before opening up with a couple of cracking aerial hits down the ground off Jadeja.
By lunch, the early morning was forgotten and South Africa began the second session at five an over as Shami and Zaheer struggled to make an impact. Kallis is an undisputed all-time great but somehow he hasn't quite won over the hearts of aesthetes, who consider his batting too mechanical, and perhaps not domineering enough. There were several shots where Kallis showed off he can be a stylist, prime among those being the backfoot punch past point off Ishant.
There have never been questions over de Villiers' style, and he again seemed to have loads of time to play the ball as he produced a half-century for the 10th Test in a row. There were plenty of shots in the V early on, before he gradually unfurled more of his strokes. He was hurtling along to another Test hundred, confidently reverse-sweeping Jadeja for four, before a nicking a turning ball from the same bowler to first slip.
That wicket sucked the momentum out of the South Africa innings as Kallis, after reaching his half-century, scored just four singles off his next 40 deliveries in the face of tight bowling from Jadeja. The final 10 overs yielded only 16 runs and South Africa's charge towards the Indian score slowed. The home side will look for more impetus in the final session, which could be a short one as the clouds began to circle around Kingsmead.
Lunch South Africa 181 for 3 (de Villiers 39*, Kallis 26*) trail India 334 by 153 runs
It was a glorious day awash with sunshine in Durban, unlike Friday when cricket fans were greeted by leaden skies, but like in the extended first session yesterday, the batting team lost a cluster of wickets early and made about a hundred runs.
Ravindra Jadeja was getting plenty of bounce to worry the batsmen, and Hashim Amla was bowled for a low score for the third time in three innings as South Africa wobbled at the start of the day
There was only a small crowd in considering it was an early start, but they made plenty of noise as Jacques Kallis walked out to bat in his final Test and was greeted by a guard of honour from India.
The emotion of the moment didn't seem to affect Kallis, and he was his usual solid self at the crease, forging a 68-run stand with AB de Villiers to steady the innings. De Villiers had some sparkling strokes, scoring mainly in the V, as he moved along to 39.
India began with Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja with a ball 20 overs old, perhaps saving Mohammed Shami and Zaheer Khan for spells when the ball was older and reversing.
Graeme Smith and Alviro Petersen started in the same brisk manner that they had played yesterday, but the breakthrough came when Smith looked to smash Jadeja over the leg side. It hit high on the bat and swirled to midwicket, where Shikhar Dhawan sprinted back and safely collected the ball as it fell over his shoulder.
Amla's dry spell continued when he played down the wrong line to a Shami delivery to lose his offstump, and off the very next ball, the set Petersen was surprised by the bounce from Jadeja to glove a catch to first slip. Again, it was a sharp catch, with M Vijay diving forward to pouch a low chance. South Africa had lost three wickets for 10 runs and had two new batsmen in the middle.
Jadeja wheeled away, tying up one end and allowing the quicks to rotate. While Kallis was quiet early on, De Villiers took on Jadeja by lofting him straight towards the sightscreen. Kallis was struck on the arm by Zaheer Khan, and took his time gauging the track before opening up with a couple of cracking aerial hits down the ground off Jadeja.
There were few alarms for South Africa after that, as both batsmen played sensibly, going for the shots only when the bad ball was delivered and by lunch South Africa had progressed to 181 for 3.
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