Amit Mishra, who has struggled to buy a wicket in the series so far, took out Graeme Smith first ball five minutes before the end of the one-hour first session after a wet outfield and murky conditions cost India 93 valuable minutes.
Under overcast skies, Smith and Alviro Petersen had almost seen the session off when Mishra started off with an accurate legbreak that Smith played all around and was caught in front. South Africa could easily have lost Peterson too, but for the inexplicable choice of just two slips and a gully in the fifth over.
Zaheer Khan tried to set Petersen for a dismissal similar to the one in the first innings, angling the ball away and making him play away from the body. Petersen was up to the task, and kept shouldering arms to length deliveries outside off. Zaheer threw another bait, a half-volley, Petersen took it, and got the edge. The third slip would have gobbled it had it been there. That was the last mistake Petersen would make in the session, and would deny Zaheer who couldn't get a single inswinger at him, a delivery that could cause doubt.
While MS Dhoni confounded with that field placement, he showed aggressive intent by opening the bowling with Harbhajan Singh. And Harbhajan tested both the batsmen with his drift and dip, and the bounce that the pitch has provided on each of the four days. Smith made sure he didn't make the mistake Ashwell Prince and JP Duminy did in the first innings. His first instinct was to play at every delivery, but he watched the rotations closely, and only if certain of an offbreak he left it alone. Against Zaheer, Smith took a middle and off guard, covering the stumps better, preventing a repeat of the earlier two dismissals. Against Mishra, though, it seemed Smith let the guard down, and paid for it.
In what was an ominous sign for South Africa, Harbhajan came back and got one to bounce and break at Petersen, but there was no backward short leg to take the catch.
