South Africa's Makhaya Ntini (left) celebrates his dismissal of India's Virender Sehwag on the fourth day of their second Test cricket match at Kingsmead in Durban yesterday. - Reuters

DURBAN, South Africa (Reuters):

Paceman Makhaya Ntini struck twice before stumps to boost South Africa on the fourth day of the second test against India yesterday.

India, who need 354 to win, reached 38 for two in their second innings after Ntini removed Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid.

Bad light

Opener Wasim Jaffer, who made a steady unbeaten 22, and Sachin Tendulkar, who had yet to score, accepted the umpires' offer of bad light with 35 overs left in the day's play.

Earlier, Shaun Pollock clipped an unbeaten 63 to put South Africa back on top.

Pollock top scored in South Africa's second innings of 265 for eight declared. They had resumed on 64 without loss but slid to 143 for six when fast bowler Zaheer Khan dismissed Mark Boucher leg-before for eight.

Pollock and Andrew Hall (21) then halted the slide with a stand of 70 for the seventh wicket.

Wicketkeeper Boucher threw down the gauntlet to India's batsmen, saying the home side were looking to dismiss them inside 50 overs.

"If we hit good areas and we pick one or two important wickets, I believe we need 50 overs at them," Boucher told a news conference.

"We're very confident of bowling them out in the first two sessions. We have respect for quite a few of their batters, but we believe we're the side who can run the show."

Boucher based his view partly on the pattern of play on Thursday and yesterday.

"Yesterday morning we picked up five wickets, and this morning they picked up six, so there's definitely something in it for the bowlers before lunch," Boucher said.

India, who won the first Test of the three-match series by 123 runs in Johannesburg, took issue with some of Boucher's comments.

"In cricket I don't predict anything, and if I was a South African cricketer I would not say that you can bowl the Indian team out in 50 overs," Indian wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni told a news conference.

Dhoni believed the weather and light conditions, which have robbed the match of 102 overs so far, would influence the final day's play.

"It's an evenly poised match, but 300 has not been scored in a day in the series and we haven't seen 90 overs in a day yet," he said.