South African captain Graeme Smith suffered a freak injury off the field but was likely to play in the second Test against India, a team official announced on Saturday.
”Smith was injured when a car ran over his left foot in the hotel parking,” media manager Gerald De Kock said. ”He is being attended to and we are expecting him to play in tomorrow’s game.”
Smith is leading a young side, most of whom have not played in India before and the team management was relieved that the injury was not serious.
”The scans and other tests done after the accident revealed no major damage. He will be treated tonight and should be in shape for the match,” said De Kock.
South Africa are looking to continue their good record against India, having won three of six previous Tests on Indian soil, losing two and drawing the first match of this series in Kanpur.
They won both Tests on their last tour in India four years ago.
Earlier, Smith said he was aiming to inflict a defeat on the favourites India.
”It would be fantastic to pull off a win here,” said Smith. ”We are going in very positively, planning to fight it out for a full five days, with a win definitely in our minds.”
The first Test in Kanpur ended in a tame draw earlier this week but Smith felt his team had learned a lot from the match.
”We batted very well and even our bowlers got a feel of the conditions, so we are looking ahead confidently for the second match,” said Smith, who took over the captaincy from Shaun Pollock after last year’s World Cup.
”Our pacemen, Pollock and (Makhaya) Ntini are adjusting well here but we are not sure whether (Jacques) Kallis will be able to bowl,” said the 23-year-old opener.
All-rounder Kallis could not bowl in the first Test after suffering a side strain in a preceding three-day practice game in Jaipur.
”The pitch here is expected to help spin later in the match, so I think it would be an advantage to bat first,” Smith said.
South Africa started the series as underdogs because most of their players lacked experience of playing in India but they finished with a creditable draw in the first Test, taking the first innings lead.
South Africa have a good record in India, having won three of six Tests played on Indian soil, losing two and drawing the first Test of the ongoing series. They won both matches of their last series here in 2000.
Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly too was hoping to wrap up the series.
”We have not played very many home series in the recent past and so it becomes important to win this match and series,” said Ganguly.
”This pitch will surely see a result,” said the Indian captain, on whom a two-match suspension was cancelled Friday after he appealed against the ban imposed for slow over-rate in a one-dayer against Pakistan.
”It was a relief to hear the news as I really wanted to play on my home ground,” said Ganguly, who hinted at going in with two seamers unlike in the first match, where India played just one seamer and three spinners.
”Playing two pacers seems to be a good option to me but we will finalise the team tomorrow morning,” said Ganguly, who complemented the visiting side for a fine showing in Kanpur.
”They have good quality players, and though they do not play as aggressively as the Australians, they are a very determined lot. We will have to play really well to win the match,” he added.
India: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid, Virender
Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Dinesh
Karthik, Mohammad Kaif, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Murali
Kartik, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra.
South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Andrew Hall, Boeta
Dippenaar, Jacques Kallis, Jacques Rudolph, Makhaya Ntini, Justin
Ontong, Robin Peterson, Shaun Pollock, Zander de Bruyn, Thami
Tsolekile, Alfonso Thomas, Martin van Jaarsveld, Hashim Amla.
– Sapa