Steyn claims 7/51 wickets to strangle India

S S Ramaswamy

Nagpur, Feb 8 (PTI) Dale Steyn produced a sensational
exhibition of seam bowling to rip apart India's fragile middle
order and leave the hosts staring at an embarrassing defeat in
the first cricket Test against South Africa here in the
western Indian state of Maharashtra on Monday.

The 26-year-old Steyn returned with a career-best haul of
seven for 51 as the hosts were bundled out for 233 in the
first innings and suffered the ignominy of follow-on despite
Virender Sehwag's aggressive 109.
Trailing by a mammoth 325 runs, the Indians were
struggling at 66 for two in their second innings at close of
play on an eventful third day's play which saw the hosts lose
as many as six wickets in the span of 12 runs immediately
after the tea break.
Murali Vijay (27) and Sachin Tendulkar (15) were at the
crease at stumps with India still needing 259 runs to make the
visitors bat again.
The Indians were cruising along at 221 for four at the
tea interval but the complexion of the game changed in a
matter of few minutes with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (6)
and debutant S Badrinath (56) departing in quick succession.
The tailenders also caved in without much resistance.
Resuming at 25 for no loss, the Indians lost Gautam
Gambhir (12), Murali Vijay (4) and Sachin Tendulkar (7) in the
pre-lunch session but Sehwag and Badrinath steadied the ship
to some extent.

But Sehwag's dismissal just before the tea break opened
up the floodgates with Steyn virtually ripping through the
lower order in a dramatic spell of seam bowling.
With two full days left, the Indians now have the
daunting task to save the game but it looks a tall order with
seasoned batsmen like Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Yuvraj
Singh not playing the match because of injuries.
A defeat will make it difficult for India to retain its
number one status in Test cricket as they would have no other
option but to win the next game in Kolkata to stay at the top.
South Africa need to win the series by 1-0 margin to dethrone
India from the top position.
Earlier Monday morning, the pace duo of Steyn and Morne
Morkel dished out fiery spells to dismiss Gambhir, Vijay and
Tendulkar cheaply before the home team recovered through the
enterprise shown by Sehwag.
The first to go was Gambhir without adding a run to his
overnight score of 12. He was out to the first ball he faced
from the tall Morkel, edging it to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher.
Vijay, playing in only his fourth Test match, made a
grave error in judging a delivery from Steyn that swung and
crashed into the stumps.
Worse was to follow as Steyn brought Tendulkar forward
for a drive with a late out-swinger that the ace batsman could
only edge to Boucher.

Sehwag cracked a fluent 109 off 139 balls to lead the
home team's fight-back along with Badrinath, who hit a
half-century in his maiden innings, before slashing a wide
Wayne Parnell delivery to give a straight-forward catch to JP
Duminy in the deep.
The four-wicket partnership had yielded 136 runs in 197
balls and lifted India from a precarious 56 for three to 192
for four.
Once Sehwag departed, Steyn triggered a batting collapse
with his 13th five-for and the hosts eventually folded inside
65 overs.
India's second innings was hardly any better with both
the openers, Gambhir (1) and Sehwag (16), returning back in
the dressing room inside five overs.
Morne Morkel brought one back from outside the off-stump
and a shoulder-arming Gambhir watched in horror as the ball
pegged back his stump.
Sehwag was not at his best either, receiving a Morkel
delivery on his rib cage that required medical attention.
In the next over, Sehwag tried to slash a Steyn delivery
but managed just an edge which flew into Graeme Smith's palm
in the first slip as India slumped to 24 for two.
Tendulkar and Vijay maintained a strict vigil to ensure
there was no further setback in their second innings. PTI SSR
KAB