India have been asked by Protea captain Graeme Smith to follow on in Nagpur after crashing from 191 for 3 to 233 all out. Protea paceman Dale Steyn with an incredible 7 wickets was their destroyer-in-chief.

India started badly losing Gambhir early on to a catch by Boucher off the first ball bowled by Morkel for 12.

He was soon followed by Vijay who shouldered arms to a rip snorter from Steyn for 4 leaving India on 40 for 2.

It got worse quickly when Tendulkar became Bouchers second catch this time off Steyn for 7 and India were in trouble on 56 for 3.

There then followed the defining partnership of the Indian innings with Sehwag being joined by Badrinath. The two put on 136 runs for the 4th wicket before the ever dangerous Sehwag was caught by Duminy off the bowling of Parnell for 109.

At 192 for 4 nobody could have forseen the collapse that quickly ensued.

MS Dhoni was out caught Kallis bowled Harris for 6 ; S Badrinath caught Prince bowled Steyn for 56 ; WP Saha bowled Steyn for a duck ; Zaheer Kahn bowled Steyn for 2 ; Mishra bowled Steyn for another duck and Harbijan Singh trapped lbw by Steyn blowing India away at 233 all out.

Steyn with 7 wickets confirming why he is ranked the number 1 bowler in world cricket.

India are going to require a humungous batting performance to save the 1st Test.

Day 2
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South Africa continued to dominate the 1st Test at Nagpur, India after Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla posted a 3rd wicket partnership of 340.

Kallis was eventually caught by Vijay off the bowling of Harbhajan Singh for 173 leaving him, once again, short of that elusive double century.

But the day belonged to Amla who took his overnight score of 115 to an unbeaten 253 before skipper Graeme Smith called time and declared with South Africa on 558 for 6.

Another exceptional innings by a batsman who has been criticized for his technique only to confound those doubters with runs on the board. Barring something out of this world he should already have the man of the match award sewn up .

AB de Villiers posted a useful 53 before being caught by Badrinath off the bowling of Sehwag. JP Duminy still hasn't recovered his form being trapped lbw by Harbhajan Singh. Mark Boucher as always contributed to the bottom line scoring 39 before he was caught by Mishra to give Zaheer Khan his 3rd wicket.

India came out to face four overs before stumps. Gambhir on 12 and Sehwag on 9 took them safely to 25 without loss at the close. Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn the bowlers with 2 overs each.

India are going to have to bat and bat and bat to save this one.


DAY 1
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South Africa won the toss and elected to bat in the 1st Test of the Proteas tour of India, which started in Nagpur on Saturday.

India started brightly enough with Zaheer Khan's opening spell of 6-4-2-2 suggesting that this may have been a good toss to lose. He began by removing Ashwell Prince caught behind by Dhoni followed by a belter of a ball which crashed into captain Graeme Smith’s stumps.

That however was where the fun ended with Jacques Kallis joining Hashim Amla with the score on 6 for 2.

Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Kahn continued to trouble the batsmen and when the spinners came on in the 12th over with the score on 16 for 2, and the ball turning wickedly it looked like the Proteas were in deep trouble.

Quite the contrary slowly slowly the two batsmen found their form on Indian soil and then began to dominate.

At lunch the 6 for 2 was forgotten with a respectable 90 on the board. By tea with no wickets falling they had added another 103. By stumps India had their calculators out with the Proteas 291 for 2 – Kallis not out 159 and Amla 115.

A magnificent century performance by both batsmen.

India are now going to have to try and limit the damage tomorrow and then bat for their lives if they are to get back into this Test.

South Africa 1st Innings

GC Smith* b Khan 6
AG Prince c †Dhoni b Khan 0
HM Amla not out 115
JH Kallis not out 159
Extras (b 4, lb 2, nb 5) 11

Total (2 wickets; 90.3 overs) 291 (3.21 runs per over)

To bat AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, MV Boucher†, DW Steyn, WD Parnell, M Morkel, PL Harris

Fall of wickets1-5 (Prince, 4.3 ov), 2-6 (Smith, 6.3 ov)

Bowling O M R W Econ
Z Khan 20 4 67 2 3.43 (3nb)
I Sharma 17 2 44 0 2.58
Harbhajan Singh 21 0 81 0 3.85
A Mishra 26 2 71 0 2.73 (2nb)
V Sehwag 7 1 22 0 3.14

India team
V Sehwag, G Gambhir, M Vijay, SR Tendulkar, S Badrinath, MS Dhoni*†, WP Saha, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, A Mishra, I Sharma

Match details
Toss South Africa, who chose to bat

Test debuts S Badrinath and WP Saha (India)

Umpires SJ Davis (Australia) and IJ Gould (England)
TV umpire AM Saheba
Match referee AJ Pycroft (Zimbabwe)
Reserve umpire S Rao