South Africa need 192 runs for victory with seven wickets in hand after a mini collapse saw them lose three wickets for 19 runs in the last session of play on the third-day of the second Test at Kingsmead on Tuesday.
Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers rebuilt the innings and, when bad light stopped play South Africa was on 111 for the loss of three wickets.
Graeme Smith (37) went out just before tea when he skied a ball from Sree Sreesanth which was safely taken by wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Shortly before he lost his wicket, Smith and Sreesanth were seen exchanging words.
“There’s always going to be some banter, especially between the top two sides in the world but every now and then it boils over,” said Paul Harris afterwards.
“We don’t want to see players getting personal — that should be cut out of the game.
“I don’t condone personal comments and I believe that was personal.” he added.
Inside edge
When play resumed after tea, Alviro Petersen (26) tried to turn Harbhajan down leg but instead got an inside edge onto his thigh pad which ricocheted into the hands of Cheteshwar Pujara at short leg.
A few balls later, with no addition to the score, Hashim Amla (16) played a poor shot attempting to cut a wide ball from Sreesanth and got an outside edge to Dhoni.
Kallis ended the day on 12 not out and De Villiers on 17.
Earlier, India was all out for 228 after they had resumed play on their overnight score of 92 for four.
They had only added one run to the total when Morne Morkel got the breakthrough. Cheteshwar Pujara (10) played onto his stumps after a ball bounced up from the lanky fast bowler.
Dhoni joined VVS Laxman and together they put on 48 runs before the Indian wicketkeeper had to go. He edged Lonwabo Tsotsobe to his counterpart Mark Boucher, who did well to dive forward to take the catch.
Good catch
Harbhajan Singh (4) made a brief appearance before he got an outside edge off Morkel to Kallis at second slip.
Laxman and Zaheer Khan shared a 70 run partnership, the highest stand of the match, until Khan (27) edged a ball from Paul Harris to AB de Villiers at second slip.
Ishant Sharma survived 16 balls without scoring before Amla took a good catch to dismiss him off Kallis’s bowling and that brought Sreesanth to the crease.
Laxman, who had played a near perfect innings, was perhaps anxious to reach his hundred before he ran out of partners. He played an out-of-character shot, attempting to cut a Dale Steyn delivery, which moved away from him and he nicked the ball to Boucher.
He had played a superb innings of 96 off 171 deliveries, including 12 fours. His 38 in the first innings is still the second highest individual score so far in the match.
He said his only motivation was doing well for his team especially after the Indian bowlers got them back into the match.
“Our bowlers got us back into the game in the first innings so it was important to bat well for my team to give us a chance to win the game,” said Laxman.
“Of course I was a little disappointed not to get a 100 as I’ve never got one in South Africa before but getting a lead of 300 was quite handy.
“If we can get an early breakthrough it will put a lot of pressure on South Africa.”
Harris said the South Africans were quietly confident of reaching their remaining target of 192 runs as the wicket was getting easier for the batsmen.
“We expected it to bounce but maybe not quite as much as it has. There is a little bit of turn out there but there’s a lot more bounce.
“We’ve already got one good partnership going and Jacques and AB have done it for us before on big occasions.
“It’s crucial that they stay there but the wicket is getting easier to bat on and we still have a lot more batting to come.” — Sapa