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Day 2 : South Africa 558 for 6 declared : Hashim Amla 253, unbeaten.Filed under
1sttest-Nagpur2010
Cricket ain't no gentlemen's game no more but some players are indeed gentle in true competitive sense of life. They'll never give you an inch on playing field but won't take even microscopic unfair advantage either..Hashim Amla, back to where he scored his first test century, notched up his maiden double century today and contiuned batting on until South African captain said ~ enough, lets have a bowl! Hashim Amla stood, for 473 balls, like a rock renouned home team bowling couldn't dislodge yet not once passed the balls to fielders like most of his teammates did. No eye contact or verbal indulgance with opposition but hardly any rash shot out of aggression as well. With just pure classical test match batting, Hashim Amla bettered his previous best test score of 176 and guided his team to a record first innings total today on day 2 of this 1st India v South Africa test match at VCA stadium in Nagpur. Jacques Kallis, Amla's overnight partner, couldn't get going for 40 long minutes in the morning today, playing out 61 deliveries to add just 14 more runs before persistent Harbhajan Singh found edge of his bat, then pad and then an easy catch at forward short leg for Murali Vijay (who had dropped a sitter off Amla couple of overs back). This broke the marathon 340 run partnership, the biggest in India v South Africa test matches, and brought AB de Villiers on park after waiting nearly 7 hours wearing pads. AB, frequently dancing down the track to Indian spinners like only Natraj or Brian Lara could, accelerated South African innings with a brisk half century but a rash shot off part time Virendra Sehwag cost him his wicket. JP Duminy continued his bad batting form with a single figure score but experienced Mark Boucher halted further destruction, until signal from dressing room came for him to up the ante. Hashim Amla, meanwhile, milked Indian bowling from other end and remained unbeaten on 253, his new best first class score, overhauling 249 he made last year for Dolphins against Eagles. Hashim Amla also went past Graeme Smith's 232 which was the previous best score by a South African batsman in subcontinent. Hashim Amla's 253 is now 7th highest test score by a South African batsman, behind Graeme Smith (277 vs England), Daryll Cullinan (275 vs New Zealand), Gary Kirsten (275 vs England), Graeme Pollock (274 vs Australia), Graeme Smith (259 vs England) and Jackie McGlew (255* vs New Zealand). South Africans chose the perfect time to declare their innings, just 23 mins before close of play, leaving Indian openers hardly anyting to gain and even half a shadow on middle of the pitch caused it's share of problems but Virendra Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir counter attacked themselves past the tricky period. The scores : end of day 2South Africa 558 for 6 declared in 176 ovsH Amla 253, J Kallis 173, Zaheer Khan 3/96. Indians, at stumps, 25 for no loss in 4 ovs Full scorecard : Ind v SA, 1st test, Nagpur. Jacques Kallisis now 3rd in list of most test century in career (34 so far) but never converted any of them into double tons. in fact Kallis, into his 136th test match now, is only 6 innings away from Alec Stewart, the former England wicket keeper batsman, with most test innings without a double century. Alec Stewart played 133 tests, 235 innings with his best score of 190. Kallis best test score is 189*.
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