Djokovic humbles Murray in Australian Open final

Novak Djokovic claimed his second title at the Australian Open in dominating style on Sunday when he hammered Andy Murray 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.

Djokovic claimed victory in 2 hours 37 minutes. The Serb dropped just one set in seven matches as he backed up the Melbourne trophy he won in 2008 when he beat Jo—Wilfried Tsonga.

Murray, seeded fifth, failed for the third time to become the first Briton to win a men’s singles title at the majors since Fred Perry at the 1936 U.S. Open. Murray lost the 2008 U.S. Open and 2010 Melbourne finals against Swiss Roger Federer, also in straight sets.

Djokovic’s victory completed a Davis Cup-Melbourne title double after he led Serbia to a first Davis title last month. The number three, who will remain on his current ranking behind Rafael Nadal and Federer, became the first man to complete that trophy feat since Jim Courier in the 1990s.

Djokovic had 26 winners and nine breaks from 17 chances. Murray was decimated by 47 unforced errors.

Djokovic takes the initiative

Djokovic began the evening with a decisive love game and then forced Murray to work hard in a second game spanning five deuces, which the Scot finally held for 1-1. The pair then settled in for a slugfest from the baseline.

With the first three games requiring 24 minutes, Djokovic finally broke the leisurely rhythm as he earned two set points on the Murray serve in the 10th game at the end of a brutal 39-stroke rally.

One chance was all it took as the Scot sent a return just over the baseline, confirmed by a Hawk-eye electronic replay which ended the 59-minute opener.

There was no stopping the charged-up Serb in the second set as Djokovic seized control to run out a 5-0 lead, with Murray’s body language and demeanour indicating a massive, growing frustration.

Djokovic knocked off a volley winner to earn a set point, but drove a forehand long in the sixth game. Murray avoided a love game by a hair as he fired an ace to get out of jail and onto the scoreboard, 1-5.

But the surprises didn’t end there, with Djokovic suddenly losing his way as he served for a two-set-to-love lead, dropping serve to love on forehand errors as Murray clawed back to 2-5. Djokokvic stopped the rot on his second set point, sending Murray deep and forcing a return error.

The third set featured breaks in four of the first five games.

Djokovic takes charge

Murray played a heroic fourth game, saving six break points before Djokovic fired a winner past the Scot for a 3-1 lead.

Murray tied again at 3-3 but Djokovic broke again for 5-3 and served out the victory a game later as Murray suffered a pair of forehand errors to end it.

Barcelona canters past Hercules

Record-breaking Barcelona opened up a seven-point lead atop the Spanish Liga with a 3-0 win on Saturday at Hercules.

In-form winger Pedro gave Barca the lead before FIFA World Player Lionel Messi polished off Hercules with two late goals.

It was Barca’s 15th straight league win, a new Spanish record, and leaves them with an astonishing 58 points from 21 games. Second-place Real Madrid, currently on 51, are at lowly Osasuna on Sunday.

As usual, Barca enjoyed bulk of the possession but failed — just for a change — to create an abundance of clear chances. They did not look really comfortable on Hercules’ narrow pitch until Messi put away his late goals.

Barca were determined to take revenge on the only team that has beaten them this season in La Liga. Pedro gave them the lead two minutes before half-time with a clever near-post drive, after having been set up perfectly by veteran playmaker Xavi.

The one-way traffic continued into the second half, but Barca did not put away the killer second goal until just three minutes from time. Messi, for whom nothing had gone right until then, received the ball on the edge of the penalty area, worked the ball onto his magical left foot — and made it 2-0 with an unstoppable drive.

Two minutes later, the impish Argentine completed the rout by turning in a Dani Alves centre from close range.

Messi now has 21 league goals to his name, just one less than top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo of Real.

Sporting Gijon beats Mallorca

Resurgent Gijon turned in their best performance of the season to win 4-0 at mid-table Mallorca. Diego Castro scored twice for the visitors, and youngster Nacho Cases and veteran Nacho Novo grabbed the other goals.

The Gijon directors must now be pleased not to have sacked coach Manuel Preciado three weeks ago, when everything was going wrong for the Asturians. They have since moved up to 12th.

Zaragoza, meanwhile, came from behind to snatch a late 2-1 win at new-look Malaga, who bought six new players in January.

Malaga took an early lead through Portugal midfielder Duda. But Argentine midfielder Nicolas Bertolo levelled for Zaragoza before half-time, and Florent Sinama-Pongolle hit the winner for the visitors with just three minutes left.

Levante moved off the bottom of the table with a 2-0 home defeat of Getafe, with goals at the start of the second half from Valdo and Felipe Caicedo. Xisco was sent off for Levante and Manu del Moral for Getafe.

Sevilla, Depor involved in six-goal thriller

Saturday’s late game was a heart-stopping 3-3 draw between Deportivo Coruna and Sevilla.

Lassad Nouioui scored twice for Deportivo, and Laure got an injury-time equalizer for them. Alvaro Negredo scored two for Sevilla, and Julien Escude got their other goal.

Sevilla had goalkeeper Andres Palop sent off but battled back from 2-0 down to lead 3-2, but Laure made it 3-3 for Deportivo right at the death.

South Africa series will be of little consequence during WC: Harbhajan

Senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh believes that the team’s impressive performance in South Africa will be of little consequence when India embark on their World Cup journey against Bangladesh next month.

“From my personal experience, I can tell you that our good show in South Africa may give us a bit of confidence but that’s about it. Doing well in bouncy pitches in South Africa and playing in the World Cup is a different ball game altogether,” Harbhajan told PTI in an exclusive interview.

To elaborate his view he gave an example of India’s tour to New Zealand in 2002 before the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

“If you remember, we had a disastrous tour of New Zealand where we lost in both Test and ODI series. But when we played in the World Cup, it was a different story. In fact, we completely dominated while we beat New Zealand and played in the finals. That’s why I feel that a bilateral series can never be an indicator to a team’s performance in a big event,” the tweaker said.

Talking about World Cups and Harbhajan, who will be playing in his third, still fondly recollects the memories of the 2003 edition when the team reached the finals under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy.

“I sincerely hope that we can emulate our 2003 feat and even do one better by winning the Cup. It will be a great gift for millions of fans. On our part, we can assure our supporters that we will give more than 100 percent when we get out there,” he said.

When asked what was special about that ‘Class of 2003’, which looked unstoppable till Ricky Ponting single-handedly took the final away from them, he said, “Have a look at the squad of 2003, you will find guys like myself, Zak (Zaheer Khan), Ashish (Nehra) and Viru (Sehwag) were all young having only played couple of seasons in international cricket.

“We were fearless and never believed that we would cow down under any sort of pressure. If you enjoy playing in pressure situations, you tend to give your best. That’s what happened. Also we had seniors like Sachin (Tendulkar), Sourav (Ganguly) guiding us.”

A veteran of 93 Tests and 217 ODIs, Harbhajan, who is now second in the list of senior-most cricketers after Sachin Tendulkar, feels India’s World Cup campaign will depend a lot on how the likes of Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan handle pressure situations.

“As a senior player, I have loads of expectations from guys like Virat, Yusuf and Raina. Just like we (Sehwag, Nehra, Zaheer, Kaif) were the youngest lot in 2003. These youngsters will be eager to show how well they can manage to hold their nerves on big stage.

They have had enough exposure in international cricket and I am really hopeful that they would come up trumps.”

On a personal front, Harbhajan, nicknamed ‘Turbonator’, is happy that he is in a good frame of mind going into the big event.

“If you are an Indian cricketer, then you become adept at handling pressure. I have played long enough to not let pressure affect my game in crunch situations. It has come with years of experience at the international level,” said the offie from Jalandhar, who has 393 Test and 246 ODI wickets to his name.

His batting has been a revelation of late and one gets a feeling that his perspective towards batting has changed.

“My mantra is simple. If the ball is in my area, I will hit it. Earlier, the approach used to be a slam bang one and I would try to hit any delivery out of sight. Now I try to get my eye in first and then go for attack. Also, if I am batting with the batsman, I try to rotate and give the specialist as much strike as possible,” Harbhajan said.

india vs south africa match live

Mourinho considering future at Real Madrid

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has dominated the headlines in the Spanish sports papers this week, for all the wrong reasons.

On Monday he took massive flak as a result of Sunday’s 1-1 draw away to bottom team Almeria, a result, which leaves Real four points behind leaders Barcelona.

In particular, his decision to leave Karim Benzema on the bench for most of the Almeria match and play without a centre-forward earned the self-styled “Special One” bitter criticism.

On Tuesday Mourinho resumed his vociferous public campaign for Real to sign a replacement for injured striker Gonzalo Higuain.

However, Jorge Valdano, the club’s general director shot Mou down in flames by saying that “the forward we need is on the bench,” referring to Benzema. On Wednesday the Spanish federation referee’s committee announced that it will open procedures against Mourino because of his public attacks on Miguel Perez Lasa, referee of the Almeria-Real clash.

And, in an even more significant move, AS claimed that Mourinho was having doubts about his future at the club and was thinking about leaving at the end of his first season in Madrid.

Only a good result in Thursday’s King’s Cup showdown against neighbours Atletico, plus an emphatic win at home to Mallorca on Sunday, will improve the ambience at the Estadio Bernabeu.

By the time that Cristiano Ronaldo and company kick off against Mallorca, Barca will probably have extended their lead at the top to seven points. The Catalans should have few problems in obtaining a record-breaking 14th successive league win on Saturday at home to lowly Racing Santander.

Barca crashed 3-1 away to second division leaders Betis on Wednesday in the cup, but reached the semifinals — where they will meet Almeria — on a 6-3 aggregate.

Ferrari puts focus on strong start to 2011

Ferrari’s main focus for the new Formula One season is getting off to a strong start, to avoid even the possibility of finishing the way it did in 2010.

Speaking at Ferrari’s annual winter retreat in the Italian Dolomites on Wednesday, team director Stefano Domenicali says too much focus has been made on the strategic errors the team made in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that concluded 2010, whereas an even larger problem was failing to gain points early on.

Domenicali says, “We have to start this year competitive right away, because if you don’t in this competitive state it becomes very tough.”

Ferrari will introduce its 2011 car on Jan. 28. The season begins with the Bahrain GP on March 13.

Henin out; Wozniacki, Djokovic advance

Justine Henin has been eliminated in the third round of the Australian Open, losing 6-4, 7-6 (8) to Svetlana Kuznetsova just a year after reaching the final in her comeback to Grand Slam tennis.

It was Henin’s first loss in a major to Kuznestova, the former French and U.S. Open champion, and her worst run at a Grand Slam event since Wimbledon in 2005.

Henin was only weeks into a comeback from a career break from the tour when she lost the final last year to Serena Williams, the third time in four appearances that she’d reached the championship match at Melbourne. Her comeback season was derailed when she injured her right elbow at Wimbledon and didn’t play again in 2010.

Men in Blue looking for a historic series win

M.S. Dhoni's band of merry men finds itself where no Indian team has been before: at the portal of an ODI series win in South Africa.

India had won only three games against South Africa in South Africa before this series started; in this light, India's 2-1 lead as the caravan moves to the quaint, historic city of Port Elizabeth looks especially impressive.

Even more striking has been the manner of the victories. Both in the second ODI at the Wanderers and the third at Newlands, the Indians handled pressure exceptionally well. In both, disaster's fetid breath was upon them; the response each time was astute, attacking cricket, once with the ball, once with the bat.

It's this brand of cricket India will need to reprise in the fourth ODI, scheduled at St. George's Park here on Friday, if it is to seal the series. Slightly worrying, Dhoni's team seems to adopt this style of play only when forced into it — while that isn't a bad thing (it's better to attack when pinned to a corner than be timid), it's something India needs to do more often.

Encouraging signs

There were, however, encouraging signs in the third ODI: when India was bowling, and J.P. Duminy and Francois du Plessis were building a partnership, Dhoni brought Zaheer Khan back to break the partnership. It's another matter that the move didn't work. When Duminy and A.B. de Villiers were doing similarly in the first game, he chose to bowl his part-timers (so he could make up for Ashish Nehra). Dhoni's rationale for not attacking was the time-pressure he was under to fit the overs in. But things were no different in the third game. Nehra had again gone for runs; India was behind the over-rate. Yet he looked for wickets. Intent is everything.

Yusuf Pathan, who played for the first time in the series, showed what he's capable of. What was most significant is that he proved he could make a difference against bowlers equipped to exploit his short-ball weakness. While Morne Morkel, who was outstanding in the third game, didn't bowl enough at him, Yusuf's handling of Steyn and his shot-selection were heartening from an Indian perspective.

Catching

The other thing that will have gladdened India was the catching. Although the fielding effort was schizophrenic, swinging between the excellent and the mediocre, the excellent came from surprising quarters: Zaheer's running, scrambling catch to dismiss A.B. de Villiers held out hope that India's fielding, which looks its weakest link, might manage the odd decisive moment after all.

But there is plenty about India's game that needs reform. The batting remains a worry — M. Vijay and Rohit Sharma tend to look good but they do precious little (Rohit did play a minor part in an alliance with the impressive Virat Kohli in the third game). Nehra has had one fine spell in three games; he seems to have conceded ground to Munaf Patel in terms of a first-eleven spot for the World Cup.

St. George's Park, where India hasn't managed to pass 200 in three defeats to South Africa, has its challenges as well. The lights aren't the best, which makes batting second dicey. The path to the boundary in certain sections of the ground is abruptly short. Then there's the rainy weather, which has been a feature of the tour. Its impact on the playing surface and the match itself remains to be seen.

The teams (from): South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt.), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, A.B. de Villiers (wk), J.P. Duminy, Francois du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, and Morne van Wyk.

India: M.S. Dhoni (capt. & wk), M. Vijay, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, R. Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Zaheer Khan, S. Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra, and Ishant Sharma, Parthiv Patel.

Umpires: Simon Taufel and Johanes Cloete. Third umpire: Brian Jerling. Match referee: Chris Broad.

Strauss wins toss, Australia to bat first in second ODI

England captain Andrew Strauss has won the toss and sent Australia in to bat in the second match off the three-game limited-overs series against Australia at Bellerive Oval.

Australia is without in-form batsman Michael Hussey, who detached the hamstring in his knee during Sunday’s six-wicket win over England in the first match Sunday.

Hussey’s place in the side has been filled by Shaun Marsh, while Shaun Tait has replaced paceman Mitchell Johnson, who has a throat infection.

Test wicketkeeper Matt Prior replaces Steve Davies in the England lineup, while James Tredwell comes in for spin bowler Graeme Swan, who has an injured knee.

Australia- Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Michael Clarke (captain), Cameron White, David Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Steven Smith, Brett Lee, Nathan Hauritz, Doug Bollinger, Shaun Tait.

England- Andrew Strauss (captain), Matt Prior, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Michael Yardy, Tim Bresnan, James Tredwell, Chris Tremlett, Ajmal Shahzad.

Umpires- Tony Hill, New Zealand, and Paul Reiffel, Australia.

TV Umpire- Billy Bowden, New Zealand. Match Referee - Javagal Srinath, India.

Waugh to help rebuild Australian cricket

Former test captain Steve Waugh says he’s happy to help rebuild Australian cricket, but is too busy with his business, family and charity work to accept a formal coaching role.

Cricket Australia has announced it will conduct a thorough review following the 3-1 Ashes series defeat to England which included an uprecedented three losses by more than an innings.

Waugh lost only eight of the 48 Ashes matches he played in, but was a young member of the previous Australian team to lose an Ashes series on home soil 24 years ago.

“My name generally comes up when there’s a coaching role, I must be on a list that they go to,” Waugh told Australian Associated Press on Saturday.

“I love Australian cricket, I want to see it be successful but my value is more of a mentor. I’m very busy with my philanthropic work and business and family and you can’t do everything.

Waugh’s foundation helps to raise funds for a leper children’s colony, “Udayan”, in Kolkota, India.

“The value I can add is I’ve seen Australia play in an era when we were struggling through to a successful era so I can see the ups and downs and maybe know some of the shortcuts.”

Waugh was captain of the Australian side from 1999 to 2004. His retirement came a year before England won back the Ashes in England, the first time it had won a series since 1987.

Knight Riders buys Gambhir for a record $2.4 million

Indian players most sought-after at IPL auction in Bangalore

Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for a record $ 2.4 million (for each year) on the first day of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in Bangalore on Saturday.

England's Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who went for $ 1.55 million each in 2009, jointly held the record for the previous highest price. The players were signed up by the franchises for a two-year period. This could be enhanced by an additional season if the cricketer and the franchise reached an agreement.

New entrants

The auction, before IPL Season-4, included new entrants Pune Warriors and the franchise from Kochi, making it a total of 10 teams.

On a day when the Indian players dominated, big-hitters Yusuf Pathan and Robin Uthappa were purchased by KKR and Pune Warriors respectively for a whopping $ 2.1 million each. Mumbai Indians won stroke-maker Rohit Sharma for $ 2 million, while Delhi Daredevils claimed all-rounder Irfan Pathan for $ 1.9 million. The influential Yuvraj Singh was picked up by Pune Warriors for $ 1.8 million. These were the top six successful bids for the day.

Smooth-stroking Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene was the most expensive foreign buy on day one — he was won by the Kochi franchise for $ 1.5 million. Yet this amount was lesser than the $ 1.6 million Royal Challengers Bangalore paid for a fringe Indian cricketer in Sourabh Tiwary.

There was no Pakistani player listed in the auction.

Gayle, Lara unsold

Significantly, power-hitter Chris Gayle, the legendary Brian Lara and the iconic Sourav Ganguly remained unsold. Interestingly, the franchises did not display any interest in Graeme Swann, among the leading contemporary spinners, and probing swing bowler James Anderson. Both represent a resurgent England side that emerged triumphant in the ICC World Twenty20 in West Indies last year.

The availability of some of the overseas players during the IPL was among the factors which determined bidding by the franchises

If any of the franchises expresses interest in any cricketer who missed out on day one, his name can come up in the auction again on Sunday.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK), holder of both the IPL and Champions League titles, lost spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan (signed up for $ 1.1 million) to the Kochi franchise but succeeded in buying back off-spinner R. Ashwin ($ 850,000), S. Badrinath ($800,000) and Michael Hussey ($ 425,000). CSK had earlier kept its four leading players (M.S. Dhoni for $1.8 million, Suresh Raina, $ 1.3 million, M. Vijay, $ 900,000 and Albie Morkel, $ 500,000) using up the maximum available limit of $ 4.5 million for retaining players without auction from a total of purse of $ 9 million.

After day one, Royal Challengers Bangalore spent $7.95 million out of $9 million, the most by a franchise in this auction so far.

I learnt a few tricks from Zaheer: Anderson

England pacer James Anderson has revealed that he learnt a few tricks of how to keep batsmen guessing, which way the ball will swing from Indian strike bowler Zaheer Khan, which helped him transformed into a lethal bowler in the last few years.

Anderson, who played a big role in England retaining the Ashes, said he picked up from Zaheer how to hide the ball in hand so the batsmen didn’t know, which way it would swing when he visited India in England’s tour of 2008.

“Last time we were in India, Zaheer Khan was hiding the ball in his hands so the batsmen didn’t know, which way it would swing. I picked that up from him,” Anderson said.

He said he watched a lot of other international cricketers and learned from them in his determined effort to come out of his disastrous form in the Ashes in Australia four years ago.

“I picked up a lot from Mohammad Asif when he was in England, how he hit the seam and could swing and wobble the ball. He is a world-class bowler and I try to learn and develop different kinds of deliveries from that,” Anderson was quoted as saying by Mirror tabloid.

Anderson said changing the attitude was the key before perfecting skills such as swing, seam and reverse swing.

“Body language is a huge thing — especially for a bowler. You don’t want to be seen trudging to your mark so I try to keep my shoulders back and be as positive as possible. “In the past, I’ve been pretty average in that respect.

People were telling me and I saw it for myself when I looked at games on TV. I could see my body language wasn’t good enough,” said Anderson.

Kevin Pietersen might have claimed that England would not have retained the Ashes with Peter Moores still in charge but Anderson has praised the former coach for keeping faith in him.

“We were in New Zealand in early 2008 when Matthew Hoggard and Harmison were dropped and myself and Stuart Broad back into the side. Our coach at the time Peter Moores wanted me to lead the attack and gave me a lot of responsibility.

That boosted my confidence and things have gone from there. “I always knew I had a lot more ability and skill than I’d shown until that point. I knew I could improve a hell of a lot. I also knew I could perform at this level because I did it to an extent when I first started with England. I thought that if I could improve and work hard at my game I could perform really well,” he said.

Rio unveils 2016 Olympics logo

The organisers of the 2016 Olympic Games unveiled the official logo for the event at a glittering New Year’s eve celebration.

The unveiling was staged at the legendary Copacabana beach, where 1.5 million people gathered to celebrate the arrival of the New Year.

The logo shows three stylised human forms who are dancing in a circle, connected at hands and feet. The logo was described as an “inspiration for the present and a legacy for the future.”

The logo was projected on a screen across from the luxury Copacabana Palace hotel, and was also printed on a huge flag that was rolled out across the human masses.

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, was present for the ceremony. The logo was chosen after a competition among 139 Brazilian agencies, which were narrowed down to a final group of eight.

Henin beats Molik at Hopman Cup

Former top-ranked Justine Henin and Lleyton Hewitt have made winning comebacks from injury at the Hopman Cup.

Henin beat Alicia Molik 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday in her first singles match since an elbow injury at Wimbledon in June. The win gave Belgium an early 1-0 lead over Australia.

Hewitt then ousted Ruben Bemelmans 6-4, 6-3 to level the tie at 1-1 ahead of the mixed doubles decider between the four players.

Saturday’s match was Hewitt’s first since September when he also played the left-handed Bemelmans in a Davis Cup match, which he won in four sets.

India will look to avoid repeating 2007

It is here, in J.M. Coetzee's “city of beauty, of beauties”, that this series will be settled — a series that has so moved South Africa that talk on the picturesque waterfront, where the revellers welcomed the New Year, was of cricket.

Not all the time of course — the wood-floored wharf, the taverns, the bistros offer other distractions — but pretty much everyone knew that India and South Africa were locked one apiece heading to the deciding third Test. The question most asked: ‘Who will win?'

It's a difficult question to answer. Although the teams are even, their differing skills stacking up nearly levelly, they have at different stages looked outrageously superior to the other. Much of it has had to do with the conditions; some of it with fortune.

For the third time this series, it rained on the day before the Test. Table Mountain, at whose feet lies Newlands where the third Test will be played, couldn't be seen. It cleared, however, and the famed mountain's weather-scarred, tree-stubbled face turned distinct.

Despite the rain, the conditions here — unlike those at Centurion and at Durban, particularly on the first day — aren't expected to assist the quicker bowlers. The pitch at Newlands has traditionally been flatter and slower than the rest of South Africa, taking spin as it wears.

TENNIS-BALL BOUNCE

The groundsman doesn't expect it to change, saying it will have, at best, “tennis-ball bounce”; the strip hasn't had as much sun as he would have liked, however.

In many ways, South Africa's best chance lies in backing its bowlers and challenging India's to take 20 wickets in less helpful conditions.

As M.S. Dhoni conceded, India's faster bowlers do better when there's bounce and movement whereas Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, with their rapid velocity through the air, are better equipped to flog a non-responsive surface for its grudging gifts. (Steyn, of course, is a swing-bowler of high skill, but he can take wickets differently, while Morkel gets disconcerting bounce anywhere).

Besides, South Africa's batsmen, despite Smith's vehement denial, have been troubled by bounce and movement. Why play into India's hands, particularly seeing how toothless its bowling was in uncooperative conditions in Centurion when the sun came out?

India's bowling though is a different beast with Zaheer Khan directing it. They did splendidly to bowl South Africa out for 131 when the conditions while encouraging bounce and seam didn't bring the swing of the first day.

With neither deviation nor lift expected here, India's bowlers will, for a cutting edge, need to find swing, conventional if it's overcast or reverse if the pitch is abrasive (which they did in the second-innings in Durban).

VALUABLE WEAPON

The bumper is a valuable weapon where the bounce isn't true — expect Zaheer, a past master at it, to use the short-ball not just to exploit how it reacts off the surface but also to bruise one side of the ball's leather and make it ready for reverse-swing.

Ishant Sharma has progressed over the two Tests, gaining rhythm. Sreesanth's bowling on the fourth morning of the second Test, when he got Jacques Kallis with a rip-snorter, was his best in some time, a dramatic improvement from the first-innings, where he was poor despite producing one wicket-taking delivery, to A.B. de Villiers.

How they go here will be watched keenly, for both have shown a tendency to regress after seeming to advance. Harbhajan Singh's role will be vital. South Africa's batsmen went after him in a concerted ploy not to let him settle in the first Test.

With enhanced seam support, he posed a greater threat in the second Test. He also does better when the wicket contains bounce — he was very good at times in Kingsmead.

Here at Newlands, his variety and imagination will be tested: he will have to fulfil various roles, of attacking, of retreating tactically without giving up on taking wickets.

OUT-CRICKET

India's out-cricket was markedly different in Durban. Never the most athletic ground-fielding side, it caught magnificently and showed better intent. The luck that is so essential for turnarounds was with it as well, in Alviro Petersen and Kallis' wickets in the first innings. India will again require all three.

With Gautam Gambhir expected to return at the top of the order, India will be at full strength. It will need every last bit of its resources, for a maiden series win in South Africa beckons.

Four years ago, India came to Cape Town in a similar position, 1-1, and despite starting well, stuttered, playing inexplicably defensive cricket to lose the series. India can't allow a repeat.

The sides (from): South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt.), Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, A.B. de Villiers, Ashwell Prince, J.P. Duminy, Mark Boucher (wk), Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Paul Harris, Wayne Parnell and Ryan McLaren.

India: M.S. Dhoni (capt. & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha, M. Vijay, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, and Jaidev Unadkat.

Umpires: Simon Taufel and Ian Gould. Third umpire: Brian Jerling. Match referee: Andy Pycroft.

Hours of play (IST): 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., 4.40 p.m. to 6.40 p.m., and 7 p.m. till close.