Greame smith opt to bowel first

It has since been re-laid under the supervision of the BCCI ground and wickets committee chairman Venkat Sundaram and ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson, and appears utterly transformed. Before the start of play, a rock-hard surface exhibited a couple of cracks and healthy tinge of green that could make effective use of the new ball decisive.
Graeme Smith decided to bowl first against West Indies after winning the toss at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, but hinted that there was still a degree of uncertainty over a pitch that last saw international cricket in December 2009, when a volatile surface forced an abandonment of the match between India and Sri Lanka.
Once the shine is seen off, the wicket should settle and favour the batsmen – although South Africa’s decision to play three frontline spinners in Johan Botha, Robin Peterson and Imran Tahir, who will be making his international debut for his adopted country gives a hint of their gameplan for maintaining control over the middle of the innings. With JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis, not to mention Smith himself, on hand to provide part-time spin support and left-arm seamer Lonwabo Tsotsobe sitting out, there is an unfamiliar hue to this South African attack.
A nonplussed Smith suggested that it might have been a good toss to lose given the unknown nature of the wicket, but the nature of South Africa’s bowling line-up and the seemingly ever-present possibility of the ‘dew factor’ with a chilly Delhi evening expected to follow a warm, clear afternoon means his decision was probably the right one. West Indies captain Darren Sammy insisted he was quite happy to bat first and leave the challenge of chasing under lights to the South Africans, but much will depend on whether Chris Gayle can negotiate the new-ball threat of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel and lay the platform for a defendable total.