Another disappointing day for the Indians was partially salvaged asAnil Kumble picked up the wicket of Herschelle Gibbs at the fag end ofthe day

Anand Vasu02-Mar-2000Another disappointing day for the Indians was partially salvaged asAnil Kumble picked up the wicket of Herschelle Gibbs at the fag end ofthe day.Having won the toss and elected to bat first, India did themselves nogood by being bundled out for 158. On a dusty track at the ChinnaswamyStadium in Bangalore the South Africans bowled with great discipline.Strangely that was all they needed to do as the Indians playedirresponsibly all day and lost their wickets to careless shots.When you lose a Test match to a visiting side in just three days, youexpect the selectors to take a long hard look at the composition ofthe team. The five wise men of Indian cricket looked and made threechanges. As expected, Mohammed Azharuddin came in to strengthen themiddle order and Nikhil Chopra was drafted in as the third spinner.The move that surprised many was the inclusion of Mohammed Kaif. WasimJaffer got another chance to prove his mettle at the top of theinnings.South Africa opted to play to their strength and replaced CliveEksteen with Nantie Hayward. A fit Daryll Cullinan reclaimed his spotin the middle order. Sachin Tendulkar won the toss once more and hadno hesitation in telling his compatriot “We’ll have a bat.”Rahul Dravid opening the innings was at his dour best, not attemptingto do anything flashy. After using VVS Laxman as a makeshift openerand finding the exercise a failure, the selectors decision to persistwith these band aid solutions defies logic. However, they may not beworried so much about the long run as the task at hand.Wasim Jaffer failed once more, being caught behind before he made toomany. Sourav Ganguly, more accustomed to batting lower down in theorder came in at one drop. His change of place proved costly as heplayed down the wrong line to a well pitched up delivery from Pollockand was adjudged LBW. The ball pitching on the stumps and shaping innicely looked like it was heading for the stumps and umpire Tiffinlifted the finger and sent Ganguly on his way.Sachin Tendulkar joined Dravid out in the middle and a period ofconsolidation followed.Rahul Dravid’s insistence on spending large amounts of time at thewicket and not scoring runs while at it proved yet again to bedetrimental to India’s cause. After a painful 112 minutes at thecrease had yielded a miserly 17 runs, Dravid inside edged a straightball from Cronje to Boucher behind the stumps. At 58/3 India wereclearly on the back foot.With an awkward few minutes to play out before lunch MohammedAzharuddin began his comeback bid. Soon after lunch there was bad newsfor India as Azharuddin fell just when he looked good. Playing onedashing drive off the back foot that sizzled through the covers forfour. Allan Donald was not impressed at all and fired the ball inshort next up. Azhar took the bait, fended at the ball and presentedLance Klusener at gully with the simplest of catches.One Mohammed was replaced by another as young Kaif walked out to themiddle to play his first Test innings. Kaif’s trial by fire beganimmediately as Donald gave him a good working over. Peppering thedebutant with short pitched stuff, Donald let more than a few wordsfly. Unshaken by it all, Kaif defended solidly.Sachin Tendulkar once again faced the task of propping up the Indianinnings. On this occasion however, he simply could not go on.Attempting to pull a Hayward bouncer, Tendulkar was late on the ball.Beaten for pace Tendulkar went through with the shot and ended uphitting the ball towards mid off. The ball struck the bat high up onthe blade and ballooned towards the South African captain. Running infrom mid off, Cronje took a good diving catch and sent Tendulkar onhis way. Tendulkar had made 21 runs.Nayan Mongia joined Kaif in the middle, showed good spirit and took onthe South African bowlers.Though he was not scoring, Kaif looked solid till he was trapped plumbin front by Jacques Kallis. Playing around the ball, Kaif was rappedon the pads by a delivery that came in just a shade. Having made apatient 12 runs, a distinctly disappointed Kaif made the long walk tothe pavilion as Anil Kumble came in.Anil Kumble hasn’t made a decent score in a while now. Luckily for theIndian team, he chose today to show that he could wield the willow.While all around him floundered, Kumble batted out till he ran out ofpartners. Kumble simplified his batting style to suit the conditionsand was by far the most effective batsman of the lot.Chopra, Kartik and Srinath all fell without much ado. Kumble meanwhilehad accumulated 36 runs, fifteen runs more than Tendulkar, the nexthighest scorer.Being all out for a paltry 158 on the very first day, Indiadesperately needed to break the South African opening partnership.When South Africa came out to bat needing to see off just five overs,there was a buzz in the ground. Going into the game with only onemedium pacer prompted India to open the bowling with Srinath andKumble. Srinath looked sharp in the two overs he bowled, beat theoutside edge, but could not force the breakthrough. Kumble at theother end, gave India the start they needed, trapping Herschelle Gibbsplumb in front. A straight, fast delivery caught Gibbs unawares andumpire Russel Tiffen was in agreement with the Indians.Nicky Boje was sent in as nightwatchman and with Gary Kirsten sawSouth Africa through to stumps without further damage. South Africawill be disappointed, ending the day on 11/1. However the daydefinitely belonged to South Africa and they will be fighting hard topost a solid total tomorrow.