Hashim Amla smashed his maiden double-century to put South Africa in the driving seat on the second day of the first Test against India yesterday.
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 the scheduled close of play.
At stumps, India were 25-0, with Gautam Gambhir on 12 and Virender Sehwag on 9 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 A.B. 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 their second success in the post-lunch session when he trapped Jean-Paul Duminy plumb in front of the wicket for 9.
Left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan (3-96) picked up 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 Test teams begins in Kolkata on Sunday.
South Africa can snatch back the No. 1 Test ranking from India if they win the series, while the hosts need just a draw to remain on top.
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