South Africa finished the first day of the first Test against India, in Johannesburg, in a strong position with the tourists 156-5.
Play was delayed by 90 minutes due to damp patches on the pitch and when play did start the Indian batsmen struggled against accurate South African bowling.
Conditions were daunting and the Indian batsmen took several blows to the body during the day.
Wasim Jaffer and Virender Sehwag made it to 14 before both departed at that score, Jaffer lbw to Makhaya Ntini and Sehwag caught behind by Pollock.
It was Pollock who best adapted to the conditions and he had all the batsmen troubled in sending down 12 overs for figures of 1-14.
India mounted a recovery through Rahul Dravid (32) and Sachin Tendulkar (44) to carry the score to 83 and when Jacques Kallis had Tendulkar caught for 44, it was VVS Laxman who joined Dravid.
It was indicative of contests between the sides that the 69 runs scored for the third wicket was an Indian record against South Africa.
Once Dravid was dismissed for a hard-earned 32, Sourav Ganguly returned to the fray and made it through to 14 before losing partner Laxman, who was caught behind for 28 from Ntini.
South Africa suffered one bad blow when fast bowler Dale Steyn was forced from the field with a thigh strain after bowling 10.1 overs.
Ntini ended the day with 2-34 and Kallis had 2-37.
