Durban, Dec 27 (IANS) Zaheer Khan led India’s fightback in the second Test as South Africa lost four wickets for 74 runs at lunch on the second day of the second cricket Test at Kingsmead here Monday.
Hashim Amla was batting on 24 after S. Sreesanth (1-33) removed AB de Villiers with the fourth ball of the last over before lunch.
Earlier, India were bowled out for 205 after adding 22 runs to their overnight total of 183 for six. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (35) scored 15 of those runs, including a six off Dale Steyn, but perished in the deep while attempting another big hit.
Zaheer, who returned to the side after missing out the first Test at Centurion with a hamstring injury, bowled beautifully to pin down the South African openers. The left-handed Zaheer got the ball to seam around. He did not have to wait long for the reward as South African captain Graeme Smith, who has often been at Zaheer’s receiving end, edged behind.
Zaheer them removed Alviro Peterson (24), who moved across, allowing the ball to hit his leg stump.
But Zaheer did not get good support from the other end with both Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma lacking consistency in their line and length.
Amla and Jacques Kallis (10) added 30 runs and were looking good when India got the latter out with a stroke of luck. Kallis backed up far too ahead and Ishant got his fingertips to the straight shot from Amla that hit the wicket and found him out of his crease.
Sreesanth, who was bowling wayward till then, suddenly bowled an unplayable delivery that swung late to kiss the gloves of AB de Villiers and Dhoni gobbled an easy catch.
