Cape Town, Jan 2: Jacques Kallis gave South Africa the upper hand when play came to a close on Day 1 of the final Test of the three-match series between the world’s top two teams. Kallis, who remained unbeaten on 81, struck two fruitful partnerships – one with Hashim Amla (72) for the third wicket and then with Ashwell Prince (68*) for the fifth wicket. As a result, South Africa were able to overcome the challenge of the overcast conditions that were a dominant feature of the day’s play.

The Kallis-Prince partnership, which came at the fall of AB de Villliers’ wicket (26), with the score at 164-4, dented India’s confidence in the post-Tea session. The two batted with great purpose, dispatching the loose balls to the boundary while offering a compact defense to any delivery that deserved respect. For India, both Ishant Sharma and S Sreesanth bowled really well, beating the batsmen regularly. But with South Africa losing just four wickets on Day 1, the onus is on India to strike early tomorrow.

Earlier, rain stopped play on two occasions in the morning. But on either side of those breaks there was some rivetting Test cricket on offer. In the first session, that saw India bowl just nine overs, South Africa captain Graeme Smith (6) was trapped LBW by a Zaheer Khan delivery ending all speculation regarding the much touted Smith-Sreesanth contest.

Then, following an early lunch break, Ishant accounted for the wicket of Alviro Petersen (21). The South African opening batsman was caught by wicketkeeper MS Dhoni with the score at 34. Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis then came together, forging an unbeaten 27-run partnership when 12 overs after the first interruption, rain again brought play to an abrupt halt.

However, the second stoppage was a very brief affair and when play resumed, the cricket was pulsating to watch. Amla unleashed a flurry of boundaries, including three off one over from Zaheer, and a pull shot off Sreesanth that disappeared straight over the square-leg boundary for six. It was a period of play that saw the Indian attack wilt under the force of another Amla half-century.

But Sreesanth eventually managed to tempt Amla into pulling a delivery that only caught the splice of his bat and fell right into the hands of Cheteshwar Pujara at the square-leg boundary. Amla fell for 59, with the South African total at 106/3.

Brief Score (At End of Day 1):South Africa 1st innings 232/4 in 74 overs (Jacques Kallis 81*, Ashwell Prince 28*, Hashim Amla 59, S Sreesanth 2/70)

At Tea on Day 1: South Africa 1st innings 125/3 in 37 overs (Jacques Kallis 22*, AB de Villiers 14*).