Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra struck once each in the last 40 minutes of a long first session to send the Kolkata Test in for two intriguing final sessions.
With Zaheer Khan injured and not available to bowl, India were looking at Harbhajan and Mishra for most of the striking and strike they did just when South Africa were inching ahead in their battle for the draw. Hashim Amla, who by lunch had batted for 19 hours and 14 minutes in the series, looking serene and comfortable for most of the duration, once again stood between India and victory.
Ashwell Prince, who didn't look as comfortable, saw off nearly two hours nevertheless, before he fell to Harbhajan who looked menacing with almost every delivery of his six-over spell before lunch.
India may have woken up to a bright and sunny day, but they were down on luck in the personnel department, with Zaheer off for the whole session with an injured right knee. They didn't help themselves by some inexplicable field sets. The first over of the day, when Virender Sehwag bowled without a gully in place, may yet turn out to be a pivotal occasion in the match.
Sehwag was used to bowl that over so that Harbhajan could be moved to the High Court End, the one that provided the spinners more rough and bounce. Still, with South Africa 232 runs behind and time at a premium, India went by just wasting that over with just one slip and silly point for Prince. Sehwag got one to bounce but the edge flew neck high where gully would have been. For close to next two hours, that was the closest India would come to a breakthrough.
Amla was solid against pace and spin alike during the first session. He read the length so early he could play most of the stuff off the back foot. That he was not scoring didn't put him into a negative frame of mind of just padding. He scored only 19 runs off 117 deliveries faced in the session.
Prince, not that convincing, still threatened to make a draw the favoured result going into the last two sessions. He hit Harbhajan once straight to forward short leg but it was not an edge and would have been a freak catch had M Vijay held it. With about 40 minutes to go, Harbhajan came back for his second spell of the day from the High Court End.
In the first spell, he had tried to get Prince lbw in a fashion similar to the one in the first innings. In his second he went over the stumps and made it difficult for Prince to judge which deliveries to leave. The leg line troubled Prince, and finally he jabbed at one outside off and lobbed it to mid-off. Mishra, who didn't trouble the batsmen much, once again produced the special delivery out of nowhere, this time a googly to take out AB de Villiers in the penultimate over before lunch, beautifully setting up the rest of the day.
