South Africa v India - Jacques Kallis' epic hundred at Cape Town

 The Cape Town Test match has already become worth watching. It has provided an ideal battle between the bat and ball and over the past few years, in South Africa, we have been treated with some fantastic Test matches and gutsy individual knocks.

South Africa’s batting was challenged heavily by the Indian bowlers on a weary Cape Town track and what South Africa needed was someone who would stood firm and dare to challenge and we all know who might be South Africa’s best man in such situations.

On the fourth day, Jac Kallis watched his partners to depart quickly. The Cape Town track was wicked – widening of the gaps and uneven bounce let Harbhajan Singh to make the Proteas batting line-up suffocate. Immediately Harbhajan removed two South African batters including the in form Hashim Amla. South Africa ended the first session with 64 for 4.

It was up to Kallis to provide South Africa stability and he did that with a side strain.

MS Dhoni packed the legside field for Harbhajan with a short-leg, leg gully, midwicket, square-leg and a man on the boundary. Jacques Kallis noticed a vacant area at the point and third man region.  And Kallis targeted that area.

Jac Kallis executed the reverse sweep with immense authority against the turn with pristine timing. The ball rocketed through that vacant point and third man region for four.  MS Dhoni was forced to change his field. Jac Kallis then countered Harbhajan staying back, moving across, playing extremely late and taking the bottom hand out of the bat while fending the ball down the legside.

Kallis saw two more wickets to fall and the lead was just 128. After the lunch, Kallis continued to perform with uninterrupted resolve. He got used with the wickedness of the track which the top-order failed to do and his calm and composed stay at the other end essayed a Laxam-like assurance that it allowed Boucher, Morkel and Steyn to flex their arms and thus, made the Indian attack, which was looking enough threatening, blunt.

Kallis stay was so brief that it made Harbhajan to loose his ideas. Though Harbhajan continued to pose threat but against Kallis it was fruitless. Each runs he took for a single or couple he could feel the pain on his chest wall, he was feeling uneasy while leaving the ball outside the off-stump due to stretching of the chest wall muscles, but Kallis never bothered to take a runner. A non-descript single to square-leg off Harbhajan Singh helped Kallis to bring up his 40th Test hundred and the first person for South Africa to score a hundred at home in each innings.

The crowd including the Indians cheered Kallis’ epic knock. What a knock it was! What a player Kallis is!

Thank You

Faisal Caesar