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Proteas in a spin at Brabourne

A different team. Different personnel. But pretty much the same old story of missed chances and lackadaisical field-work, as the Board President's XI under Ajay Jadeja took on the visiting South Africans at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai.

South Africa won the toss and obviously, opted for first strike on a seemingly true wicket. Skipper Hansie Cronje indicated that his team was looking at this game to get some much-needed batting practise ahead of the first Test, starting on the 24th.

And batting practise, they got in spades -- thanks to the prodigality of the Indians in the field. T Kumaran opened with a fine spell (in fact, among the pacers, Kumaran impressed by being spot on each time he was given the ball), while Debashish Mohanty was a touch wayward at the other.

Initially, Herschelle Gibbs played aggressor while Gary Kirsten, returning to top flight cricket after a bit of a break, seemed a touch tentative.

Gibbs seemed at ease against the seam and swing of Mohanty and Kumaran, and when Amit Bhandari was brought on as first change, handled the medium pacer with ease. The introduction of Murali Karthik, however, seemed to impact on the right-handed opener's play. Karthik, who has a smooth, rhythmic action and easy delivery, bowled a superb line all day, getting the ball to float in the air and jump and turn off the track, troubling everyone he bowled against.

Gibbs got one that bit and turned, the hesitant push finding the edge of the bat for Mongia to fluff a simple take. The first wicket finally fell on the stroke of lunch when Karthik turned one across the face of Kirsten's bat, the batsman shaped to cut but the bounce on the ball got the top edge for Azhar, diving at slip, to take a very sharp chance. Once the spinners came on and Gibbs went into his shell, Kirsten had taken on the onus of scoring, overtaking his partner and when the first wicket fell at 104, Kirsten had contributed 56 of those (79 balls with 7 fours).

Harbajan Singh, who seemed a touch tentative in the morning session, trying too hard to break through and in the process, spraying it around a bit, settled into a much better rhythm after the break. And produced the next breakthrough when Gibbs, who does not seem too comfortable against spinners on a track that was already affording some turn and bounce, went for a huge swing, looking to hit over midwicket and managing only to edge it onto his boot and on the richochet, to forward square leg. (Wicket fall 125/2, Gibbs 53 off 128 balls).

The post lunch session however belonged to Murali Karthik. The youngster comes across as a confident, attacking left arm spinner, unfazed by batsmen going after him, employing flight, loop and turn to keep probing away, and always bowling an attacking, wicket-taking line. He was, however, desperately unlucky -- with the score on 169/2, he tossed one up and turned it sharply away to find the edge of Cullinan's bat, only for Mongia to muff yet another sitter.

A few runs later, it was the turn of Mohammad Azharuddin. Murali pushed one through, making it kick off a length, the batsman cutting at it and getting the edge for Azhar at slip to react late and let it through for four.

An over later, Karthik again found Cullinan's edge, a thick outer edge this time with one leaving the bat sharply, and again, Azhar got his hands to the ball lunging to his right, and let it down.

Cullinan, like the earlier batsmen, seemed ill at ease against spin. In fact, barring Jacques Kallis, none of the batsmen on view handled the turning ball well, though Kirsten, Gibbs and Cullinan all employed the tactic of trying to hit the spinners off their length by lifting over the onside.

The third wicket, that of Cullinan, came by way of the umpire's bounty. Kallis pushed to cover, Cullinan crossed and raced down, Mohammad Kaif (who, along with Murali Karthik and Ajay Jadeja, fielded brilliantly all day) raced in from cover, picked up and flicked underarm to throw down the stumps. Good fielding, and a direct hit that, when Indians play, is a bit of a rarity -- but Cullinan had just managed to beat the throw. Umpire Murali, however, raised his finger in the heck of a hurry, and Cullinan was walking back, for a rather patchy 43 off 93 deliveries that included a few good crisp hits, especially off the pacemen, and some scratcy work against the spinners. (212/3)

Bowling with more control after tea than he had shown in his earlier spells (he in fact produced three probing maidens on the trot in this spell), Mohanty then took out Jacques Kallis just when the batsman seemed to be getting into very good touch. Kallis had looked unflurried by both pace and spin, using his feet well to smother the wares of Karthik and Harbajan, and doing enough to indicate that he could be the stabilising factor in this South African lineup. Mohanty, however, bowled one outside off, making it hold its line and go through straight after a series of inswingers, and Kallis' defensive push, played a little inside the line, got the edge through to Mongia. Who for his part looked visibly relieved after finally holding one. (50 off 113, wicket falling at 217/4).

From then on, spin dominated at both ends as Harbajan and Karthik produced a fine spell in tandem. Bajju was the first to strike, tossing one up outside off and turning it in, drawing Strydom into the drive,the turn defeating the shot and producing a return catch for the bowler (14/21 Strydom, wicket falling at 234/5).

That brought Lance Klusener to join Cronje. One clubbed drive off Harbajan thudded into the fielder at silly point. Another fiercely hit, but misjudged, attempt to clear long on saw the off spinner grassing a very sharp return catch. And then Karthik, seemingly oblivious of Klusener's aggressive intent, tossed one up outside off and turned it in sharply -- the width drew Klusener into the cut, the turn back in beat the shot and clipped off stump (Klusener 0/7 balls, wicket falling at 6/239).

Hansie Cronje, who has a rep for playing spin well, looked to be a touch tentative against both Karthik and Harbajan. The SA skipper, every now and again, came down the wicket and went into his favourite shot, the pick-up lofted hit over midwicket, but for the most part remained crease bound and seemed to be reading the turn off the track rather than out of the bowler's hand. Jadeja, leading the BPXI, added to the pressure with aggressive fields to both spinners. And both Harbajan and Karthik responded by bowling an aggressive line, using flight and turn aided by the natural bounce off the track to cause a lot of problems to the batsmen.

Mark Boucher opted for attack as the best form of surviving the spin attack, and chanced his arm every chance he got. Jadeja promptly reintroduced Kumaran, to check Boucher, and the ploy worked -- Kumaran's probing line proving difficult to get away. At the other end, Karthik kept wheeling away with three round the bat, earning respect from both batsmen.

Looking comfortable at 125 after 36 overs for the loss of Kirsten, South Africa slumped to lose a further 5 wickets in the space of 54 overs, adding 168 runs. And it merits mentioning that had the Indians held on to the four chances that came their way, the Proteas would have been in a far worse plight.

For the Indians, the bowlers to impress were T Kumaran (13-5-28-) with his line, variation and control and Murali Karthik (29-2-95-2), who bowled with great heart despite seeing four chances go down off his bowling. Harbajan (24-1-88-2) had a couple of spells of good, intelligent bowling but was equally wayward at other times, turning in a patchy overall performance. The same, in fact, could be said of Mohanty (13-4-45-1), who had his moments but looked ordinary at other times. Amit Bhandari turned in impressive-seeming figures of 11-2-29-0, but never did he look like being able to cause problems to batsmen of international calibre.