South Africa Lead Series 1-0

South Africa 558 for 6 dec (Amla 253*, Kallis 173, de Villiers 53) beat India 233 (Sehwag 109, Badrinath 56, Steyn 7-51) and (f/o) 319 (Tendulkar 100, Steyn 3-57, Harris 3-76) trail by an innings and six runs.

Tendulkar's 91st international century, just like Virender Sehwag's 30th in the first innings, was a remarkable innings in isolation but inadequate given the thin middle order. Once he got out with India still 133 behind, it was always going to be a matter of when, not if. The when came at 4.27pm, with Dale Steyn completing his fourth career ten-wicket haul, taking out a resolute Wriddhiman Saha and Amit Mishra in quick succession.

Dhoni, too, 25 off 112, eventually got the one accurate delivery from Harris that made him play, took the inside edge onto the pad, and his first defeat as captain would come soon. The unfortunate Saha, who unwittingly drew the ire of many by debuting as a specialist batsman, put in a fight with a 101-ball 36. Stands of 50 and 59 with Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan took them close to saving the innings defeat, but Kallis and Steyn took the last three wickets in one quick go. The messed-up stumps of Mishra at the hands of Steyn, bringing up the 10-for, was a fitting end.

India vs South Africa 1st test Live Streaming

Watch India vs South Africa 1st test Live Streaming: South Africa tour of India, 1st Test: India v South Africa at Nagpur, Feb 6-10, 2010. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir no longer have a man with 10,000 runs behind him at No. 3

Laxman ?

Laxman did take part in the nets session at the VCA Stadium on Friday, but a final call on his fitness had not yet been taken. "Of the 15-16 players in the squad, only regarding VVS Laxman is there a little uncertainty," MS Dhoni said on Friday morning. "He's at the nets now, he'll come back and share with the physio how he is feeling, apart from that everyone is fit."

Graeme Smith has named MS Dhoni, his counterpart, as South Africa's primary target in the two-Test series, which begins at the VCA Stadium on Saturday. Smith said his team was gunning for Dhoni because he carried the bulk of the responsibility for India and, if they attacked him successfully, they would be well placed to win the series and snatch the No.1 Test ranking.

India squad
MS Dhoni*†, S Badrinath, G Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, VVS Laxman, A Mishra, A Mithun, PP Ojha, WP Saha†, V Sehwag, I Sharma, RG Sharma, SR Tendulkar, S Tyagi, M Vijay

South Africa squad
GC Smith*, HM Amla, J Botha, MV Boucher†, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, PL Harris, JH Kallis, R McLaren, M Morkel, WD Parnell, AN Petersen, AG Prince, DW Steyn, LL Tsotsobe

Match details

Umpires SJ Davis and IJ Gould
TV umpire AM Saheba
Match referee AJ Pycroft
Reserve umpire S Rao