Scorecard

A recurring nightmare for Indian cricket fans has been the team's uncanny ability to follow a great performance with a perfectly ordinary one; that feature of our cricket perhaps explains the pessimistic emails that have been flooding my mailbox over the Christmas weekend.

For once, the exception is proving the rule, as India's seamers picked up the gauntlet thrown by Graeme Smith and, at lunch, reduced the home side to 28/3 before Herschelle Gibbs (25/41) and Ashwell Prince (17/39) mounted a fightback with a 39-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

South Africa's problems began as early as the third over - and predictably, it began with Graeme Smith. His play on the day, and the mode of his dismissal, was typical of a batsman struggling for form and confidence.

As early as his first over, Smith was squared up by a trademark Zaheer Khan delivery, that landed on off and middle and straightened to square the batsman up. Khan produced a repeat in his second over, then having shaken the batsman, produced his first short ball of the innings.

Smith went for the hook, but was woefully late to change from defensive to aggressive intent; the result was a top edge that spiraled over the slip cordon. It seemed safe enough, except for Sachin Tendulkar spinning around and racing back towards the third man region, his head twisted around to keep the ball in sight as it descended over his shoulder, making a great catch out of what, when the shot was played, looked like a streaky one (5/13; SA 8/1).

Khan struck again in his fourth over; this time, the dismissal owed to the perfect delivery a left arm seamer could produce to a right-handed batsman. The ball landed on length on middle stump, held its line and then shaped in late. Hashim Amla, surprised by the late movement, fell over a bit in defense, missed the line and was nailed in front (1/9; 13/2).

While Khan was hitting the straps from ball one, Sreesanth at the other end appeared to have some difficulty controlling the initial movement. Rahul Dravid rotated the seamer out of the attack after a first spell of 4-1-16-0, then brought him on at the other end after Zaheer had completed an exceptional first spell of 6-3-5-2.

The move worked; the bowler began getting the seam back to that bolt upright position that had everyone talking in Jo'burg and with his third ball of the comeback over, nailed AB de Villiers.

The ball was bowled from very close to the stumps; the line homed in on off and seamed away very late, to find the edge on the tentative drive for Tendulkar at first slip to take his second catch of the morning (9/38; SA 28/3).

De Villiers, doing duty at the top of the order as replacement for the prodigal Herschelle Gibbs, showed every intent to stick it out there; there was, however, little conviction in his batting, and for most of his stay, his departure seemed merely a matter of time.

At the other end, VRV Singh seized his chance to prove a point or three. He had made the lineup only because Munaf Patel hasn't recovered enough for the management to gamble on; from the first ball he bowled, Singh showed that he deserved consideration in his own right.

He was especially effective against Gibbs, lining him up and beating him repeatedly outside off; to add insult to injury, on as many as three occasions he had Gibbs surprised by nasty lifters off length, that the batsman fended at and was lucky to see fall in safe ground.

Interestingly, Singh changed his style, cutting out the back of length stuff he had relied heavily on in Jo'burg, and bowling a very full length, on off or in the channel. Allied with his pace and the late movement he was able to extract, Singh immediately looked threatening; the only silver lining for the batsmen being that the bowler didn't bring anything back in off the seam, relying exclusively on the ball going away from the right hander.

Batting down the order, Gibbs began playing with an odd mixture of discretion and flash. Despite being beaten repeatedly by Singh, Sreesanth and Zaheer, Gibbs gritted it out; he even shrugged off the odd edge that, as in Singh's first over, had squirted through the infield to find the fence.

In the 17th over, he uncorked his first positive shot, gliding onto the front foot to cover for swing and blasting Sreesanth through the covers. But then, the prodigal Gibbs resurfaced, with a flash outside off later in the same over that saw the ball squirt off the edge and dangerously close to third slip.

At the other end, Ashwell Prince stuck it out, playing with a pronounced front foot movement and playing the ball as late as he possibly could; the shot of the morning had to be his square drive past point off Sreesanth in the 19th over, a shot played against a ball that was on length and seaming away late.

The two batsmen began playing with greater freedom once the initial shine had worn off, and the quantum of swing had correspondingly reduced. Gibbs in particular was quick to seize the initiative, finally getting a measure of revenge on Singh by first flicking, then cover driving, Singh for fours in successive deliveries in the 20th over, after seeing an edge fall just short of a diving Wasim Jaffar at gully at the start of that over.

Kumble replaced Sreesanth in the 21st over and straightaway hit restrictive lines. At the other end, Zaheer Khan came back for Singh, and was desperately unlucky to see umpire Mark Benson turn down a clear shout for LBW against Prince (16/32, and SA 63/3, at the time).

Overall, Graeme Smith's decision to bat first on winning the toss mirrored Dravid's similar move in the first Test. It was clearly a move aimed at seizing the initiative, and forcing the Indians to battle the pressure of batting last.

The loss of three wickets early took the fizz out of that decision, though. At lunch, South Africa was in fightback mode; it will take great application from Gibbs, Prince, Andrew Hall, Mark Boucher and Shaun Pollock to bat the home side to a position of strength from here.

That said, conditions for batting will likely be at its very best in the second session; it will, too, be a very good test for the Indian bowlers who, thus far, have had it pretty much their own way.