Rain Gods save the day for Proteas

It was a frustrating day in office for the Indians as only two and half hours of play could be possible on day-four, thanks to rain and bad light. South Africa, on the other hand, couldn’t have asked for a more timely intervention, as they ended the day at 115 for 3.

Amit Mishra was the pick of the Indian bowlers, bagging the crucial wickets of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis.

With seven wickets left to win the match and retain the Test crown, Dhoni and his boys would be hoping for a bright and sunny final day.
First, overnight rain and foggy conditions delayed the start of play by 90 minutes, which meant only 14 overs were sent down in the first session. Post lunch, the rain gods once again played spoilsport just as the Indian spinners were beginning to look dangerous. It ensured that Hashim Amla (49*) and Ashwell Prince (0*) returned to the pavilion without having to face Indian bowling attack for the day.
Dhoni started off the proceedings with Harbhajan Singh and the off-spinner straight away got a bit of turn and bounce from the track. He bowled particularly well to Graeme Smith (20), getting the ball to drift away from the left-hander. Harbhajan did gain an upper hand over the Proteas skipper but without men in catching position, all he could do was stand and watch the edges flying all over the place.
Zaheer Khan, who opened the attack with Harbhajan bowled smartly, maintaining the off-stump line and varying the length. Having dismissed Smith both times in the series, the Indian pacer was at him again. He beat the left-hander frequently with some beautiful out-swingers before dropping in one that came into him.
But to Smith’s credit, he negotiated Zaheer with immense caution and made sure he didn’t repeat his mistakes. Smith often stood up for South Africa and saved matches from precarious situations and that’s exactly what his team required from him.
However, Amit Mishra had other plans. The very first delivery that the leg-spinner bowled turned into the southpaw and caught him plumb in front of the wickets.

Hashim Amla negotiated the Indian spinners with aplomb and held fort for the Proteas with an unbeaten 49.

Debutant Alviro Petersen (21) was sent back shortly after the lunch break by Harbhajan, as Badrinath took a good reflex catch at short-leg. The ball turned into Petersen after pitching on the off-stump and got a leading edge.
Harbhajan almost got Hashim Amla out in a similar fashion when Murali Vijay at backward short-leg was a tad slow in reacting to the edge. The lapse could well prove costly to the home side, considering Amla’s prolific run in the series.
Amla looked confident as he faced Indian bowlers with aplomb. His fine touch and unwavering temperament was evident in the way he treated the good balls with respect and played some fine drives and flicks to punish the bad balls to the fence.
Ishant Sharma tried to up the tempo for India with a spell of short-pitched deliveries, like he did in the first innings. However, this time it became way too predictable for quality batsmen like Jacques Kallis (20) and Amla, as they went about pulling and hooking with ease.
While Harbhajan kept the batsmen thinking, Mishra was the pick of the Indian bowlers. There was a time when he bowled quite slow through the air and Kallis and Amla were happy to play him on the backfoot.
Dhoni’s decision to change the bowling end for his leg-spinner paid off immediately. Mishra produced an absolute ripper to send the dangerous Kallis packing. The ball was pitched up on the middle stump and turned viciously away from the batsman, taking a faint edge. Dhoni took a smart catch to send back one of South Africa’s mainstay.
Soon after Ashwell Prince walked out to bat, heavens opened and put paid to Dhoni’s plans of making further inroads into South African innings.