Webinfosys's sports News : South Africa 80 for 1 at lunch

South Africa were 80 for one in their first innings at lunch on the first day of the final Test against India in Kanpur.

Graeme Smith with 31 and Hashim Amla with 11 were batting at the break.

The South African openers, Graeme Smith and McKenzie, played cautiously to give a solid start to the visitors before Chawla got rid of McKenzie with a gem of a flighted delivery and provided the much-needed breakthough.

Earlier, South Africa captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat.

Anil Kumble was ruled out of the final Test because of a groin injury.

The 37-year-old leg spinner, India's most successful bowler, failed to recover from a groin strain, leaving one-day skipper Mahendra Dhoni to lead the team for the first time in Tests.

India included leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for Kumble and recalled fit-against paceman Ishant Sharma and batsman Yuvraj Singh.

The tourists lead 1-0 after crushing India by an innings and 90 runs on a lively pitch in the second Test in Ahmedabad, a victory that brought them close to claiming an Asian treble after wins in Pakistan in November and Bangladesh last month.

It is an unusual scenario for India, who have not lost a home series for almost four years. The last time they succumbed to a visiting team was in 2004 when Australia won the four-match series 2-1. Now captain Anil Kumble faces the same situation Sourav Ganguly had encountered then.

Stats

Graeme Smith, with a win at Green Park, Kanpur, would be establishing a South African record for most Test wins, overtaking Hansie Cronje's tally of 27 Test wins.

In case of a South African win or a drawn game, they would be the first team in 26 years to beat India twice in India. South Africa had defeated India 2-0 in 1999-00.

Rahul Dravid (1085 at an average of 36.16 in 17 Tests) needs 118 runs to overtake Sachin Tendulkar's aggregate of 1202 (ave.35.35) in 20 Tests and to become the leading run-getter in India-South Africa Tests.

Teams:

India: Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Vangipurappu Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Dhoni (captain), Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Neil McKenzie, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher, Morne Morkel, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini.

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