Test of comeback kings

It was a real ‘Test’ of comeback kings like former skipper Sourav Ganguly, S Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan and V V S Laxman in the first Test against the Proteas, which Team India was poised to wrap-up with a lot to spare.
Hats off to these gentlemen in whites, who have helped to pin the opposition on the mat and let’s hope they keep them there for the rest of the series.
First it was the gritty batting by southpaw Ganguly and a fine third wicket partnership between batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and skipper Rahul Dravid which paved the way for the visitors to put up a decent first innings score.
Ganguly, gave a fitting reply to all his critics, including this writer, with a face saving unbeaten 51 and showed that in cricket you just cannot write-off any one especially a man who has led the country with distinction in the past.
Probably if he had got good support from the other end, he could have ended up with much more than what he finished with even though his message to his critics was loud and clear that he still has a lot more to offer this team, which struggled without a pair of experienced batsmen in the middle, in first half of their African Safari.
When the South Africans batted it was the turn of another comeback man Sreesanth’s turn to corner the glory with a burst of fast medium pace bowling, which left the visitors gasping for breath.
In a ten-over spell, Sreesanth showed that he is the right answer to Javagal Srinath, who had tormented the Proteas when the Men in Blue toured their country last time around, by picking up five for 40 backed up by real good bowling by leg spinner Anil Kumble (two for two) and Zaheer Khan (two for 32).
Then came the stylist Hyderabadi batsman Laxman’s turn to hold the Indian second innings together with a solid 72 after proving his agility in the slip cordon by snapping up a couple of sharp chances in South Africa’s first essay.
Not to be left too far behind was Zaheer Khan, who used the long handle pretty well to score a fighting 37. Like V R V Singh in the first innings, who gave admirable support to Sourav, Zaheer hung in the middle to consolidate his team’s position along with Laxman.
With important contributions from Virender Sehwag (33), Ganguly (25) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (18), India was in the driver’s seat as the hosts were faced with a tricky situation of scoring 402 runs for victory on a worn out wicket with the Indian pace battery threatening to run through their batting like a hot knife through butter as the home team was reduced to 22 for two.

This article is written by v veerakumar.