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Day 1: South Africa in command

South Africa'S batsmen embraced the luck that India's fielders offered them and kept bounding away all day to end at 339 for two - a score from which only a bout of insanity can lead to defeat.

Andrew Hudson was dropped on nought and on four, first evidence of an extremely ragged day in the field for India, but through the second session he drove off back and front foot with equal assurance and immaculate timing.

If Garry Kirsten's batting evoked a lesser degree of admiration it was only because Hudson, who was finally out for 146, had that extra touch of grandeur.

Kirsten was, if anything, more solid and ground rather than blasted towards 102.

Two statistics tell the story of the day. India bowled only 12 maiden overs, the lack of discipline of their bowlers also highlighted by the 49 boundaries South Africa's batsmen scored. As a result the three sessions of play produced 98, 138 and 103 runs.

In retrospect, South Africa's fortune on this tour probably turned when Hansie Cronje won a rare toss. In India that often means you have won the lottery to bat first and his batsmen did not let him down once the hazardous first half-hour was gone.

This is a beautiful batting strip as debutant Herschelle Gibbs, (one of two for South Africa, the other being Lance Klusener) and Darryl Cullinan confirmed.

If the rest of the batsmen can match the committment the first four have shown so far, a total of 550 by tea on the second day would make a decent platform for victory.

South Africa's only problem came off the field, when Gibbs was fined 25 per cent of his match fee by ICC referee John Reid for wearing a logo on his arm- bands.

A hotel suite occupied by Indian Test cricketers was badly damaged by fire yesterday. Telephones, beds, mattresses, carpets and the players' belongings were destroyed.

Day 2 Report: Indian rally cut short

Just as they did in England earlier this year, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad showed that there is more to Indian bowling than gentle spin as they fought back against South Africa on the second morning here.

Prasad bowled beautifully to take six for 104 and South Africa, having resumed on a commanding 339 for two, lost their last eight wickets for 82 runs and were all out for 428. But India's joy was short-lived, as Brian McMillan and Allan Donald again exposed the vulnerability of their batting against fast bowling as the light grew murky and at stumps they were still 276 behind, on 152 for six.

India's problems at the top of the batting order had seemed temporarily to have been forgotten as another new pair, their fifth in six Tests, got behind every ball. The impressive Rahul Dravid had made 31 and Nayan Mongia had started putting his wicketkeeping disappointments behind him with 35 when the slide began. McMillan removed Dravid and when local favourite Saurav Ganguly was bowled, 65,000 Calcuttans fell silent in an otherwise noisy city.

South Africa's best was yet to come. Herschelle Gibbs, who replaced the injured Jonty Rhodes in the team and at backward point, came up with two sensational run-outs. Then Donald showed why he must be the fastest bowler in the world as he ripped through the defence of V S Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar.

India, with the injured Mohammad Azharuddin unable to bat, would still hope to reach 229 and avoid the follow-on. Avoiding defeat, however, looks less likely.

Day 3: Artist at work for India

With his beloved Eden Gardens as his canvas, Mohammad Azharuddin produced a contemporary masterpiece here yesterday. Stung by reports that he had shied away from batting on the second day, India's captain sealed his lips and unleased an astonishing array of shots.

Resuming at the crease after having retired hurt on the second day at six, he scored a further 103 from only 70 balls. This included five boundaries in a row from Lance Klusener, who received a rather scary initiation into Test cricket as India recovered to finish 99 runs behind the South Africans on first innings.

He hit a six and 18 boundaries in all, several of those from a shot he has rarely played in international cricket. With Allan Donald and Klusener pitching short, Azharuddin dusted out the hook from his armoury. Curiously, then, this was an innings of power rather than the subtlety that has so often characterised his cricket.

A century from 74 balls is rare in Test cricket but by producing it at Eden Gardens before almost 80,000 supporters, Azharuddin only wrote another chapter in an extraordinary relationship between the man and the ground.

Five Test innings here have now produced four centuries, his lowest score a 60. More significantly, these innings have come at crucial moments in his career.

This was one that compares very favourably with his unforgettable century at Lord's six years ago and with probably his best Test innings, 182 against England scored, inevitably, at Eden Gardens.

Azharuddin's brilliance masked two significant aspects of the day's play. At the other end Anil Kumble had scored a career-best 88 to share in a partnership of 161 for the eighth wicket and play a role in an amazing morning session that produced 150 runs.

But when the bubble had burst, and Eden Gardens was quiet again, there came the realisation that South Africa were still in control of this match.

The lead had been kept down to under a hundred but by the close, Gary Kirsten and Daryll Cullinan had stretched it to 259. Their batting was robust, safe and solid. It did not quite have the mystique of Azharuddin and it did not disregard danger quite as breathtakingly. But it was batting designed to win the match and, with two days left, it most probably will.