Smith leads South African onslaught in Kanpur, No respite for Indian Bowlers

Be it a pace-friendly or spinner-friendly wicket, Indian players never looked in good shape in this series so far. They got a dusty and cracking surface in Kanpur to bowl South Africa out. But there was nothing to rejoice. See the body language of both teams, and there will be no prize for guessing the better team. Never before at home, India looked so depleted and helpless.

India lost the advantage when their skipper Kumble was ruled out of Kanpur test because of injury. Then came the much-important toss. The coin again eluded standing skipper M S Dhoni and South Africans get the upperhand. They defied the lacklustre Indian bowling attack. Both Ishant and Sreesanth never looked dangerous.

The openers added 61 runs for the first wicket. Chawla got McKenzie's wicket when he came out of the pitch to hit a six. Dhoni completed the formality by taking off the bails. But that was the last success for Team India, as skipper Smith and Hashim Amla negotiated the Indian spin attack in a perfect manner. Smith completed his half century. South Africa were 122/1 when reports last came in. Smith was batting on 53, while Amla was on 30.