FLOP ORDER

Once again, the top-order has failed, once again they failed to back up a great bowling performance, once again the Rahul Dravid-less middle order was left holding the can. Wasim Jaffer8217;s one-day career is due for a big break, Sehwag8217;s fading out, but yes, it8217;s Tendulkar8217;s repeated failures that have been most baffling.

Ever since that magnificent comeback century against the West Indies in Kuala Lumpur two months ago, the batting great has crossed 50 just once. And after that 141, his scoresheet shows this dismal sequence: 12, 65, 4, 35, 29, 10, 35, 2 and now 1.

On this tour so far, he has lasted just 63 balls, scoring a total of 38 runs. And it8217;s not as if he8217;s completely lost, as that brief but burning 35 in Durban showed. But with Dravid out, Laxman yet to arrive, India desperately needed him at No 3 to hold the side through till the end. Because they knew that with Tendulkar firing, 243 was never impossible.

But the big short hope went on to give veteran Shaun Pollock his wicket for the second time in two games. He lasted just three balls. Oh yes, it8217;s time to pray.

It8217;s a pity though because merely two hours before, he had taken his first one-day wicket in nine months, he was bouncing in the field, helping Sehwag get the placements right, egging Sreesanth on. But all that went down the drain with that tame wave outside the off-stump.

If that Tendulkar stroke rang the death bell for India in this match, Mohammed Kaif8217;s run out after Dinesh Kaarthick suddenly lost interest midway captured India8217;s agony in this outing. Despite a few brave strokes from Mahendra Dhoni and Irafan Pathan.

And to imagine that the Indians were actually smiling before the shadows crept in on the quaintly shaped St George8217;s Park at coastal Port Elizabeth.

As Dravid would say, that was because they did get to take home 8220;some positives8221;.

Here are three:

8226; In an inspired selection call that was long overdue, the one bowler South Africans have begun to respect for his 8220;fight8221; and 8220;spunk8221; showed what 140 kmph can do on any day, any pitch. Sreesanth had just bowled the ball of this series, becoming the first Indian bowler on this tour to break that speed barrier. No wonder young Loots Bosman had no clue to that inswinging yorker. Sreesanth may give away 8220;four balls8221;, as one selector told this paper, but he gets you the wicket, and most importantly, the pace.

8226; Then there was Anil Kumble. It may have taken the ace 15 months to move from wicket No 329 to No 330. But when Jacques Kallis, surprised by the bounce, gave Mahendra Dhoni the edge, the veteran had capped a tremendous comeback to one-day cricket. He got one more, tempting the talented AB de Villiers to sweep, only for the ball to shoot into his pads.

8226; And most importantly, the Indians have Graeme Smith running scared of Zaheer Khan. The South African skipper today fell to the left-armer for the third straight time in this series 8211; once again, for a duck. Smith8217;s one run in the three games came against Munaf Patel in Durban, and since then it has been Zaheer, Zaheer and Zaheer. At least that8217;s one grumpy South African face in the laughing crowd.

Now if you needed a footnote, it8217;s this: India8217;s fielding has improved marginally, and they came up with a much better gameplan for the last 25 overs. Kumble was held back after his first spell of seven for the last 10 overs. And it paid: the 41st over yielded 1 run, the 43rd just 6, and the 45th a mere four.

But with Herschelle Gibbs, in an unusually mature avatar, crossing fifty 93 for the first time after that stupendous 175 in the 434-chase at the Wanderers nine months ago, and Kallis stamping his class in a cameo 49, the South Africans had enough fuel to last the stretch. Now, if only they told us where that petrol pump is 8211; let8217;s pray.

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA: G Smith lbw Zaheer 0, L Bosman b Sreesanth 0, J Kallis c Dhoni b Kumble 49, H Gibbs not out 93, AB de Villiers lbw Kumble 13, M Boucher lbw Sehwag 29, J Kemp c Sehwag b Tendulkar 0, S Pollock run out 37, A Hall run out 13, A Nel not out 0

Extras: b1, lb4, w2, nb2: 9; Total: for 8 wkts, 50 overs 243

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-6, 3-75, 4-93, 5-154, 6-155, 7-216, 8-240

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 8-1-38-1, S Sreesanth 7-1-29-1, A Agarkar 5-0-33-0, I Pathan 7-0-28-0, A Kumble 10-0-42-2, V Sehwag 5-0-22-1, S Tendulkar 8-0-46-1

INDIA: W Jaffer c Smith b Ntini 10 V Sehwag c Bosman b Ntini 18 S Tendulkar c Boucher b Pollock 1 M Kaif run out Bosman/Pollock 10 D Kaarthick c Nel b Kemp 17 MS Dhoni c sub AG Prince b Nel 26 I Pathan not out 47, A Agarkar c Hall b Kemp 6, Z Khan c Boucher b Kallis 11, A Kumble c Smith b Pollock 2, S Sreesanth c de Villiers b Kemp 3

Extras b 2, lb2, w 3, nb 5: 12; Total all out; 38.1 overs: 163

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-24, 3-38, 4-39, 5-82, 6-109, 7-128, 8-145, 9-150

Bowling: S Pollock 10-2-23-2, M Ntini 9-1-34-2, J Kallis 8-1-41-1, A Nel 7-0-40-1, J Kemp 4.1-0-21-3