WC cricket 2011 match 29: South Africa beat India in cliffhanger

By Team Bellevision
Bellevision Media Network

Nagpur, 12 March 2011: An inspired bowling spell by Dale Steyn (5/50) and sensible batting by Robin Peterson (18 off 7 balls) helped South Africa clinch a thriller against India by three wickets at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Saturday. Steyn with his fierce pace rattled the Indian middle and lower order, while Peterson kept his cool and scored the required 13 runs in the last over off Ashish Nehra. All-rounder Faf du Plessis, too, played his part with a crucial 25 off 23 balls.

 

MS Dhoni’s decision to ask Nehra to bowl the defining over, when Harbhajan Singh was still left with one over, cost his side the crucial encounter. Earlier, Sachin scored his 99th international ton, his 48th in ODI cricket and gave his team an exceptional platform to set a mammoth total before Dale Steyn’s five-wicket haul turned the game on its head.

 

The little maestro before getting out off Morne Morkel, hit eight stunning fours and three massive sixes. India, who were once looking well set to score 350 plus, were eventually bundled out for 296 in 48.4 overs. They lost a flurry of wickets after Sachin’s dismissal as Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan (0), Yuvraj Singh (11 off 9 balls) and Virat Kohli (1 off 3 balls) all went in quick succession.

 

In reply, Jacques Kallis (69 off 88 balls) and Hashim Amla (61 off 72) scored fifties and gave South Africa a chance of chasing down Indian total of 296. The two experienced batsmen also shared an important 86-run stand for the second wicket before Amla got caught behind off Harbhajan. Kallis always kept the Proeas in the hunt before getting run out.

 

 

 

The Proteas made a steady start before Zaheer Khan made Graeme Smith play a false stroke and give a simple catch to Sachin at mid-off. Amla, in his half-century, hit some crisp shots on both sides of the wicket. Harbhajan with three crucial wickets - Amla, AB de Villiers (52 off 39 balls) and JP Duminy (23 off 20 balls) - always kept his team in the game.

 

In the first half, after being set for a massive score by centurion Tendulkar (111 off 101 balls), Virender Sehwag (73 off 66 balls) and Gambhir (69 off 75 balls), India lost a cluster wickets in the batting powerplay (4 for 30 runs) and bundled out for at least 60 runs short of what they could have achieved had those wickets not fell.

 

Viender Sehwag and Sachin got India off to a flying start and shared a 142-run stand before the former being bowled by Faf du Plessis. But the hard-hitting batsman hit 12 crisp boundaries in his 66-ball 73. It was fifth time on the trot that the Indian opener got things going with a boundary.

 

Sehwag looked in ominous touch from the outset, sending good deliveries from Steyn and Morkel to the boundary, while Sachin was equally devastating with his all-round play after Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first. Sehwag completed his fifty in 45 balls with 11 scorching fours, while the little master approached his 94th ODI fifty in just 33 deliveries.

 

 

 

The two batsmen, with their power-hitting, also helped India score 87 in the first powerplay - highest for the tournament so far. Sachin, who practiced for over an hour to tackle the left-arm spin on Friday, hit some beautiful lofted drives over extra cover off Peterson. After punishing the Proteas in the first powerplay, India scored further 43 runs in the bowling one.

 

Gambhir, too, played his part with a well-composed half-century. But things went bad to worse once the southpaw departed. Earlier, India, after a lot of deliberation, decided to go in with three pacers and two spinners. And here the second spinner with Harbhajan was not Piyush Chawla but Yuvraj Singh, who has been extremely effective with his slow left arm spin.

 

South Africa, on the other hand, didn’t take the risk of playing injured Imran Tahir in the playing eleven and included off-spinner Johan Botha in place of the leg spinner.

 

Match Summary 

ICC World Cup 2011 India vs South Africa, 29th Match, Group B Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur, March 12, 2011

Match Information Umpires: Ian Gould (Eng) & Simon Taufel (Aus) Third Umpire: Billy Doctrove (WI) Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SL) Toss: India (Elected to bat) Match Status: South Africa won by 3 wkts

Batting: India Innings

Batsmen India (296/10 in 48.4 ovs) Runs Balls 4’s 6’s SR Virender Sehwag b F du Plessis 73 66 12 0 110.61 Sachin Tendulkar c J Duminy b M Morkel 111 101 8 3 109.90 Gautam Gambhir c J Kallis b D Steyn 69 75 7 0 92.00 Yusuf Pathan c G Smith b D Steyn 0 2 0 0 0.00 Yuvraj Singh c J Botha b J Kallis 12 9 0 1 133.33 MS Dhoni (c) (wk) not out 12 21 0 0 57.14 Virat Kohli c & b R Peterson 1 3 0 0 33.33 Harbhajan Singh b D Steyn 3 9 0 0 33.33 Zaheer Khan c M Morkel b R Peterson 0 3 0 0 0.00 Ashish Nehra c G Smith b D Steyn 0 3 0 0 0.00 Munaf Patel b D Steyn 0 1 0 0 0.00 Extras: b - 0, w - 12, nb - 1, lb - 2 15   Total:(296 for 10 in 48.4 overs) 296 Run Rate: 6.08

Fall Of Wickets

1/142 (Virender Sehwag, 17.4 ov.), 2/267 (Sachin Tendulkar, 39.4 ov.), 3/268 (Gautam Gambhir, 40.1 ov.), 4/268 (Yusuf Pathan, 40.3 ov.), 5/283 (Yuvraj Singh, 42.6 ov.), 6/286 (Virat Kohli, 43.6 ov.), 7/293 (Harbhajan Singh, 46.5 ov.), 8/294 (Zaheer Khan, 47.4 ov.), 9/296 (Ashish Nehra, 48.3 ov.), 10/296 (Munaf Patel, 48.4 ov.)

Bowling: South Africa

Bowler O M R W Nb Wd ER Dale Steyn 9.4 0 50 5 0 2 5.2 Morne Morkel 7 0 59 1 1 0 8.4 Jacques Kallis 8 0 43 1 0 1 5.4 Robin Peterson 9 0 52 2 0 2 5.8 Jean-Paul Duminy 3 0 29 0 0 0 9.7 Johan Botha 9 0 39 0 0 2 4.3 Faf du Plessis 3 0 22 1 0 1 7.3

Batting: South Africa Innings

Batsmen South Africa (300/7 in 49.4 ovs) Runs Balls 4’s 6’s SR Hashim Amla c M Dhoni b H Singh 61 72 5 0 84.72 Graeme Smith (c) c S Tendulkar b Z Khan 16 29 2 0 55.17 Jacques Kallis run out (H Singh/M Dhoni) 69 88 4 0 78.41 AB de Villiers c V Kohli b H Singh 52 39 6 1 133.33 Jean-Paul Duminy st M Dhoni b H Singh 23 20 2 1 115.00 Faf du Plessis not out 25 23 0 1 108.70 Morne van Wyk (wk) lbw b M Patel 5 5 1 0 100.00 Johan Botha c (sub)S Raina b M Patel 23 15 2 1 153.33 Robin Peterson not out 18 7 2 1 257.14 Dale Steyn             Morne Morkel             Extras: b - 0, w - 1, nb - 0, lb - 7 8   Total:(300 for 7 in 49.4 overs) 300 Run Rate: 6.04

Fall Of Wickets

1/41 (Graeme Smith, 8.3 ov.), 2/127 (Hashim Amla, 27.2 ov.), 3/173 (Jacques Kallis, 35.4 ov.), 4/223 (AB de Villiers, 40.3 ov.), 5/238 (Jean-Paul Duminy, 42.3 ov.), 6/247 (Morne van Wyk, 43.6 ov.), 7/279 (Johan Botha, 47.5 ov.)

Bowling: India

Bowler O M R W Nb Wd ER Zaheer Khan 10 0 43 1 0 0 4.3 Ashish Nehra 8.4 0 65 0 0 0 7.5 Munaf Patel 10 0 65 2 0 0 6.5 Yusuf Pathan 4 0 20 0 0 0 5.0 Yuvraj Singh 8 0 47 0 0 0 5.9 Harbhajan Singh 9 0 53 3 0 1 5.9