PORT ELIZABETH
India may have one important, if unpredictable, ally in their bid to save thesecond Castle Lager/MTN Test match against South Africa at St George's Park onTuesday – the unsettled Eastern Cape weather.
When play was finally called off on Monday evening, the Indians, who need toscore 395 to win, were 28 for one in their second innings. They had batted for75 minutes which brought the total play possible during the day – in threeseparate periods – to 109 minutes during which 25 overs in all were bowled.
They need to bat through the last day to save the match and stay in thethree-Test series, but as onerous as this task might seem, there is always thepossibility that the weather might have the last say.
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It was, in fact, a little surprising that as much as 105 minutes play waspossible on the fourth day. All day a thick covering of cloud hung over theground, periodically unloading itself on St George's Park and it is testimony tothe drainage of the ground that play resumed remarkably quickly after each rainbreak.
The forecast for Tuesday is more "heavy rain" in the area, in whichcase the focus of interest for the day will turn to the fate awaiting the fiveIndian players, together with captain Sourav Ganguly, who were called beforematch referee Mike Denness on Monday.
Sachin Tendulkar had to go before the beak as a result of television footagewhich allegedly showed him tampering with the ball (lifting the seam, to beprecise) while Harbhajan Singh, Shiv Sunder Das, Deep Dasgupta and VirenderSehwag have been carpeted for excessive appealing and dissent. The captain isthere because he's the captain.
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Denness held a hearing at 8.30am on Monday and another after the close ofplay in the evening. A statement, however, will not be issued before Tuesdaymorning, according to United Cricket Board officials.
Of course, there might well be more cricket than expected on Tuesday, tofollow Monday's 25 overs, during the course of which South Africa advanced theirsecond innings score to 233 for five before declaring and then had Shaun Pollocknip out Das with the fifth ball of the Indian second innings.
Das hadn't scored at that stage, and it was left to Dasgupta and Rahul Dravidto see their side through to the close with Dasgupta, who has made a decent fistof his new job as an opening bat, is on 22 with Dravid on 3.
The other consequence of the South African declaration was to leave JacquesKallis unbeaten on 89 and Pollock on 55. It was Pollock's ninth Test 50 andKallis's 18th, although Kallis will not be entirely happy at having been deniedhis 10th Test century.
The odds are still stacked heavily in South Africa's favour, with the pitchstill behaving unpredictably, but if India can show the resolution offered byDasgupta and Dravid on Monday evening and the weather plays it part, thetourists could still go Centurion Park later this week with a chance oflevelling the series.
