Jacques Kallis - Five greatest performances of the South African legend

#2 Defying Muralitharan in his own backyard - 2003

J Kallis scored a match-winning 87 in the Kandy Test against Sri Lanka

In the 2003 Test series against Sri Lanka, South Africa was trailing the three-match series by 1-0 going into the second Test at Kandy. Lance Klusener saved the touring team in the first innings after an initial collapse of 34/5. Sri Lanka gained a decisive lead of 53 runs and the African nation now faced an uphill task of batting on the dust bowl against the greatest spin bowler ever.

Kallis came out to bat in the sixth over as Sri Lanka prized out the opener, Neil McKenzie. The sturdy defender saw as many as six batsmen losing their wickets at the other end. When Kallis got out for 87 from 208 balls, his four-hour innings had taken the visiting team to a position of safety.

The South African tailenders added crucial late runs and Sri Lanka had to chase 177 runs to win the Test. The home team crumbled and lost the match by seven runs. Kallis’ defiant knock was rated as one of the best against a quality bowling attack.