Group B gave the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 yet another thriller as South Africa handed India their first loss of the tournament with a mere 2 balls to spare at the VCA stadium in Nagpur. A Sachin Tendulkar masterclass took India to 267/1 before the Batting PowerPlay and Dale Steyn combined to blow away the Indians like a card castle for 296. The Saffers’ essay was guided by half-centuries from Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers before the pendulum shifted umpteen times towards the end even as they were eventually seen past the finish line by a Robin Peterson cameo.The pitch at the Jamtha looked fairly hard and dry before the game, and a run fest was on the cards even at the outset. Graeme Smith called wrongly at the toss and MS Dhoni took the opportunity to play to his strengths and bat first. Interestingly, in a massive departure from the game’s past and even common cricketing knowledge, South Africa went in with more specialist spinners than India, in Johan Botha and Robin Peterson, while the hosts droped Piyush Chawla in favour of Munaf Patel, a the third seamer.
The mouthwatering prospect of Tendulkar-Sehwag taking on the menacing Steyn-Morkel combine did not disappoint as the innings was off to a dramatic start. And for the fifth straight time at this World Cup, the irrepressible Virender Sehwag smashed the first ball of the innings to the fence; a stat that sums up the Delhi dasher’s approach to the game as well as anything. He was given an early reprieve soon after, as an edge went a begging between Smith at a widish first slip and keeper Morne van Wyk, with neither fielder going for it.
Form then on, the openers launched a blistering onslaught that left the Proteas gasping for breath and the skipper woefully short of ideas. Dale Steyn lost his radar and sprayed a couple down leg, one helped on its way gleefully by Sehwag, while the other was far too wide for even the keeper to intercept. Sehwag hogged the bulk of the early strike and tore into Morkel for 3 blazing fours in the 6th over. Kallis was called on very early but could not contain the duo. Steyn’s return saw the first six of the game as Sachin played a hook for the ages, reminiscent of his carefree batting of the nineties. This was just after a gorgeous straight drive in which he held the pose for a full half dozen second for the cameras to feast on.
Even as the spinners came on, there was no respite for the Proteas. Eventually it was the unlikely candidate Faf du Plessis that managed to clean up Sehwag for 73 (66 balls, 12*4s), but the platform had been set for a humongous total. The opening partnership had been worth a massive 142 inside 18 overs, and a total close to 400 was definitely on the cards. Gautam Gambhir buckled down to play the workmanlike innings needed at that stage. The singles were on offer in plenty and both Sachin and Gambhir were happy to knock it about. The pair slowly closed in on personal milestones and raised their hundred and fifty respectively, both in the 36th over.
This was when the curse of the Batting PowerPlay struck. It has seen many an innings derail over the course of this tournament, and today was no exception. First to depart was Tendulkar, top-edging high into the air for a glorious innings of 111 (101 balls, 8*4s, 3*6s). Steyn then sent back Gambhir for 69 (75 balls) and the dangerous Yusuf Pathan for nought to further dent the Indian innings. Yuvraj Singh smashed a huge six straight back over Botha to raise hopes that there would still be some big hitting in store, but fell for 12, hitting a harmless full toss from Kallis down long-on’s throat. This ended the PowerPlay, which went completely South Africa’s way with 30 runs and 4 wickets coming off it.
The Proteas fightback continued as Kohli gave Peterson an easy caught-and-bowled, and Peterson followed up with the wicket of Zaheer Khan as well. Dale Steyn meanwhile shattered the stumps thrice to wipe out the tail in a hurry and end up with 5 wickets from the game.
From 267/1 to 296 all out, nine wickets fell for a mere 29 runs as the Indian implosion meant what once looked well in excess of 350 ended up short of even 300. The Proteas were right back in the game with a shout, and interestingly on the 5th anniversary of their epic chase of 434 against the Aussies in Johannesburg, backed themselves to do the job against a not-so-strong Indian bowling lineup.
A tight bowling performance was the order of the day for the Indians, and tight bowling is precisely what Zaheer Khan started off with first up. Graeme Smith’s abject cluelessness against Zaheer’s left-arm over-the-wicket angle coming in is now the stuff of modern cricketing lore, and, sure enough, Zaheer, with a slightly sadistic glint in the eye, had Smith poking and prodding tentatively from the word go. Inevitably the skipper did depart against the same nemesis, caught at mid-off for 16.
Hashim Amla, though, in the form of his life and arguably the finest batsman in world cricket at the moment, was his usual unflappable self. He took toll against the bowling of Nehra, cracking consecutive boundaries twice in successive overs.
An interesting aspect that came up in the opening spell of medium-pace bowling was that the odd ball kept low after pitching to surprise the batsmen. Considering that it appeared to be a hard wicket, this was one factor not anticipated by either side, but favoured the team fielding.
India’s third pacer Munaf Patel came on first change, and kept up the wicket-to-wicket stuff with not much pace on the ball to tie the batsmen down. Likewise, Amla and Kallis were content in picking up the singles and keep the scoreboard ticking. It was a measure of the contrasting fashions in which the two innings had progressed that at the drinks break following the 15th over, South Africa had 66 runs on the board against India’s 128 at the same stage.
Pathan was the first slow bowler to be introduced to the attack, and Yuvraj followed soon after. Harbhajan was held back for a bit, and in any case Dhoni was happy to get the fifth bowler’s quota of overs out of the way when the batsmen were not too keen to attack. When Harbhajan did come into the attack, he delivered with the wicket of Amla, caught behind on the cut for 61. Kallis had a bout of inventiveness in this passage of play, sweeping, reverse-sweeping and scooping Harbhajan all in the same over.
AB de Villiers settled in fairly quickly, and raised the flagging scoring rate ever so slightly, hitting Harbhajan over midwicket for a massive first six of the innings. Dhoni turned to his strike weapon Zaheer for a breakthrough, and he did strike Kallis in front and review the not out decision, but once more the 2.5 metres rule denied India. No damage was done, though, as Kallis departed the very next ball for 69 run out to a very good throw from deep square leg by Harbhajan.
With the required rate just starting to creep over 9, De Villiers and Duminy upped the ante. One particular Zaheer over went for two fours and a six, and the Saffers were once more on top. The first of the boundaries was a never-seen-before reverse sweep lapped to fine leg. De Villiers then raised his fifty in quick time, off 38 balls, but found the fielder at square leg immediately after.
The match continued to seesaw thereafter, as a spot of big-hitting was followed by a wicket time and time again. Du Plessis smashed one over long-off before Bhajji hit back with the wicket of Duminy, stumped by a fumbling Dhoni for 23. Morne van Wyk was then dropped by Gambhir on the square leg boundary to concede four before being struck plumb low on the pad by Munaf trying the reverse sweep. Johan Botha then took control, creaming 24 from 2 Munaf overs, but skied one against the same bowler to fall for 23.
17 needed off 12, and Zaheer bowled an exceptional, nerveless over, restricting the batsmen to just 4 singles. Raina fumbled the ball in what could have been an easy run out chance, and Robin Peterson survived. Nehra was picked to do the unenviable job of bowling the last over, with the Proteas needing 13. They found an unlikely hero in Peterson as he inside-edged the first ball for four, nonchalantly smashed the second into the midwicket stands, dug out the third from the blockhole to scamper a couple and dive in to survive the direct hit, and calmly threaded the covers to find the fence and get his side home.
In regard to the abject collapse in the batting PowerPlay, Dhoni’s comments in the presentation ceremony were telling, “The second PowerPlay, what is important is you don't play for the crowd you play for your country.” This might be a veiled hint to the big-hitters in the middle order to concentrate sensibly on their batting and not forget the basics. Dale Steyn bagged the Man-of-the-Match prize for his 5 wickets for all of 4 runs at the back end of the Indian innings.
The topsy-turvy Group B table still sees India at the top with 7 points, though their unbeaten run comes to an end. West Indies and South Africa are tied at 6 with England and Bangladesh following with 5 and 4. It still is a very open table, with even Ireland mathematically in with a chance. Realistically, though, West Indies should sail through on the back of their strong NRR irrespective of whether they win or lose their next 2 games, while England essentially must beat the former in their only fixture left to avoid Bangladesh pipping them to the 4th spot.
Teams:
India: Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Virat Kohli, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel
South Africa: Hashim Amla, Graeme Smith (c), Jacques Kaliis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Morne van Wyk (wk), Johan Botha, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel
Mini Scorecard:
India 296 all out in 48.4 overs (6.08 rpo)
Sachin Tendulkar 111(101) Dale Steyn 9.4-0-50-5
Virender Sehwag 73(66) Robin Peterson 9-0-52-2
Gautam Gambhir 69(75) Faf du Plessis 3-0-22-1
South Africa 300/7 in 49.4 overs (6.04 rpo)
Jacques Kallis 69(88) Harbhajan Singh 9-0-53-3
Hashim Amla 61(72) Munaf Patel 10-0-65-2
AB de Villiers 52(39) Zaheer Khan 10-0-43-1
File Photograph Copyright: ICC World T20
