India restrict SA to 248

DURBAN (South Africa)—Jacques Kallis held the South African innings together with a typically workmanlike unbeaten 119 - his 19th ODI century, and his first against India - to help them to a competitive 248 for 8 in the second one-day international at Durban. After losing the toss, the Indians did a fine job in the field, striking at regular intervals to keep the runs in check. Only a frenetic 12-ball 22 from Andre Nel and a few crucial blows from Kallis ensured that 30 came off the last three overs and lifted the total to nearly 250.
The other substantial contribution to the innings was AB de Villiers’s spunky 41, but the batsman who held the innings together was Kallis. It was a mixed innings: he was immensely skillful at the start, handling the seaming ball outstandingly after coming to the crease in the first over. However, he slowed down quite inexplicably in the middle overs and gave India an opportunity to claw back into the game. His hundred, off 143 balls, was the slowest by a South African in ODIs, but he stepped it up again in the end with a couple of meaty blows off Agarkar to partially redeem himself.
Graeme Smith chose to bat after winning the toss bright and sunny conditions, but the start was anything but cheerful for South Africa as Zaheer Khan made his comeback a memorable one by nailing Smith lbw in the first over. That brought Kallis into action, and he immediately got into his stride, stroking the ball quite sumptuously through the covers repeatedly, punishing even the minutest error in length by striking cleanly through the line off the front foot or crisply hitting through point off the back. Zaheer - who leaked runs after an encouraging start - Munaf Patel and Ajit Agarkar all felt the heat of Kallis’s impeccable timing and placement as he sped to 54 from 71 balls.
Having seen through the tough period so convincingly, Kallis chose to revert to second gear instead of turning it on. His next 80 balls fetched him only 51 and, with the other batsmen falling in an attempt to increase the scoring rate, it allowed India back into the match. de Villiers, coming in with the team three down and the run-rate barely touching four, turned it on immediately, sweeping Harbhajan Singh into distraction. He was particularly destructive in Harbhajan’s fifth over, sweeping him fine for four, then tonking him over midwicket for six and rattling Harbhajan so much that he fired his next ball down the leg and conceded five wides.
de Villiers won that battle and set up the platform, but India then fought back superbly in the middle overs, as Mark Boucher, Justin Kemp and Shaun Pollock, three batsmen who South Africa usually rely on to up the tempo, contributed a combined total of just 31 runs. With Kallis refusing to do anything more than rotate the strike with singles, the innings was suddenly in danger of unraveling completely - with four overs to go, they only had 211 on the board with three wickets in hand.
Nel then turned it on, clubbing the ball around and enjoying it too. One of his strikes included a heave over midwicket for six off Agarkar — who lost the plot after bowling with exceptional control in his first spell. Nel’s strikes allowed South Africa to close in on 250, and with an all-pace attack to confront, the Indian batsmen won’t find it easy to get to 249.—Agencies