South Africa captain Graeme Smith made a belligerent 37 before he was out in the last over before tea as South Africa set out in pursuit of a victory target of 303 runs on the third day of the second Test against India at Kingsmead yesterday.
South Africa were 70 for one at tea, with Alviro Petersen unbeaten on 24.
Smith made 37 off 38 balls in an opening stand of 63 with Petersen before he top-edged an attempted pull against Sree Sreesanth, sending the ball high in the air to enable wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to run to square-leg to hold an easy catch.
V.V.S. Laxman was mainly responsible for South Africa having to chase more than 300, making a polished 96 before he was last man out, caught behind off Dale Steyn as he tried to keep the strike. India lost their last three wickets for 10 runs in 8.5 overs after lunch.
South Africa’s hopes of chasing a relatively small target rose when Morne Morkel bowled Cheteshwar Pujara with the sixth ball of the day, but Laxman remained unruffled and shared stands of 48 for the sixth wicket with Dhoni (21) and 70 for the eighth wicket with Zaheer Khan (27).
Only one run had been added to the overnight 92 for four when Pujara fended a sharply lifting delivery from Morkel into his stumps. Dhoni batted aggressively before he was caught behind off Lonwabo Tsotsobe, while Harbhajan Singh made only 4 before he was caught at second slip off Morkel.
Khan missed wild swings against both Tsotsobe and Morkel before settling down to provide valuable support to Laxman.
Khan was lucky to survive an LBW appeal by Dale Steyn when he had 10 and the total was on 181, with umpire Steve Davis ruling the ball had hit his bat, a decision which was contradicted by television replays. No umpire review system is in place for the series, however, and South Africa were unable to challenge the decision.
Tsotsobe took three for 43, while Morkel took three for 47.
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