Sensational Steyn puts India on the mat

Dale Steyn produced a sensational exhibition of seam bowling to rip apart India's fragile middle order and leave the hosts staring at an embarrassing defeat in the first Test against South Africa here on Monday.

The 26-year-old Steyn returned with a career-best haul of seven for 51 as the hosts were bundled out for 233 in the first innings and suffered the ignominy of follow-on despite Virender Sehwag's aggressive 109.

Trailing by a mammoth 325 runs, the Indians were struggling at 66 for two in their second innings at close of play on an eventful third day's play which saw the hosts lose as many as six wickets in the span of 12 runs immediately after the tea break.

Murali Vijay (27) and Sachin Tendulkar (15) were at the crease at stumps with India still needing 259 runs to make the visitors bat again.

The Indians were cruising along at 221 for four at the tea interval but the complexion of the game changed in a matter of few minutes with Mahendra Singh Dhoni (6) and debutante S Badrinath (56) departing in quick succession. The tail enders also caved in without much resistance.

Resuming at 25 for no loss, the Indians lost Gautam Gambhir (12), Murali Vijay (4) and Sachin Tendulkar (7) in the pre-lunch session but Sehwag and Badrinath steadied the ship to some extent.

But Sehwag's dismissal just before the tea break opened up the floodgates with Steyn virtually ripping through the lower order in a dramatic spell of seam bowling.

With two full days left, the Indians now have the daunting task to save the game but it looks a tall order with seasoned batsmen like Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh not playing the match because of injuries.

A defeat will make it difficult for India to retain the number one status in Test cricket as they would have no other option but to win the next game in Kolkata to stay at the top.

South Africa need to win the series by 1-0 margin to dethrone India from the top position.