India lose batting momentum and match

FARIDABAD, MARCH 15: Ever since landing in Delhi on Monday night, Sachin Tendulkar has been flooded with "Do-well" greetings. Hi...

FARIDABAD, MARCH 15: Ever since landing in Delhi on Monday night, Sachin Tendulkar has been flooded with "Do-well" greetings. His recent poor form with the bat has been a cause of national concern and seeing the determined look on his face in the morning, the crowd at the Nahar Singh Stadum here was waiting for a sumptous treat from the little master’s willow today.

For sure, he was promising to wear the mantle of a demi-God again, under the clear blue sky this afternoon. The Indian team and the 25,000-odd full house here, were looking upon him for a miracle.

Strangely, it was the now-off-spin-and-now-leg-spin bowler in Tendulkar that threatened to halt the South African march. It spoke as much of his growing skill as a bowler as of India’s pitiable bowling resources. Honestly, how much would you expect from India when the captain and regular bowlers, languishing in the deep, are banking on Tendulkar the bowler to do the job?

Story continues below this ad

In the end, the drama infused by Tendulkar’s late strikes helped little as South Africa clawed their way back in the Pepsi One-Day series with a two-wicket win in the third game today. Without denying the due credit to the visitors, India need to do some serious introspection. Skipper Saurav Ganguly must be wanting to know from his batsmen why they couldn’t build up on another of his classics at the top. How could a team, after scoring 80 runs in the first fifteen overs, struggle to collect just 20 in the next ten? India’s total of 248 for eight in 50 overs was a good 20-30 runs short of the difference between a winning and a fighting score. The South Africans played positive and intelligent cricket, ran their runs hard and pushed the Indians to the wall. The wicket was a bit slow, so Ganguly was compelled to bring on his spinners much before ball had lost its shine.

Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and Sunil Joshi picked up a wicket each early on, but the runs were coming at a quick rate. Soon, the South African fourth-wicket pair of Gary Kirsten and skipper Hansie Cronje got their eye in and then started battering the bowling.

It was only after Tendulkar brought about an end to Kirsten and Cronje’s efforts, and Kumble did Dale Benkenstein in with a wrong-un, that India had flickering hopes. However, the South Africans had the pair of Shaun Pollock and Mark Boucher to carry their team home, leaving the soul-searching Indians high and dry.

The morning augered well for the Indians. Though Tendulkar was a pale shadow of his true self with the bat, Ganguly was hammering the South African bowlers with the ease of a man scything daisies in a park. His was a typically arrogant knock, interspersed with eight fours and an amazing six off Steve Elworthy over cover-point. As long as Ganguly was in the middle, there was only frustration for the South African bowlers.

Story continues below this ad

Ganguly, and India’s hopes were, however, cut short by the first of the two decisions going against the Indians. He was quite unlucky to be given out caught behind, when the ball seemed to have brushed the thigh pad.

The Indian scoring rate fell and even though Rahul Dravid and Ajay Jadeja resurrected the innings, the rate never really took off. Dravid gave hints of regaining his form with a typically cautious knock of 73.

India were also hit hard by the match referee’s decision to dock South Africa only one over when they were trailing the clock by at least 20 minutes. Hansie Cronje was declared the man of the match.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA
Saurav Ganguly c Boucher b Elworthy (54b, 8×4, 1×6) 56
Sachin Tendulkar lbw Pollock (28b, 1×4) 12
Rahul Dravid (run out) (109b 4×4) 73
Mohammad Azharuddin c Boucher b Kallis (9b) 2
Ajay Jadeja c Kallis b Cronje (56b, 1×6) 31
Sunil Joshi (run out) (18b, 2×4, 1×6) 23
Robin Singh (run out) (9b, 1×4) 9
Sameer Dighe (not out) (17b, 1×4) 17
Ajit Agarkar b Kallis (5b, 1×4) 8
Extras (b1, lb4, nb3, w9) 17
Total (for eight in 50 overs) 248
Fall of wickets:1-61 (Tendulkar, 10.5 overs), 2-80 (Ganguly, 15.4), 3-85 (Azhar, 18.5), 4-147 (Jadeja, 37.1), 5-182 (Joshi, 41.4), 6-209 (Robin, 44.4), 7-238 (Dravid, 48.5), 8-248 (Agarkar, 50)

Story continues below this ad

Bowling: Shaun Pollock 10-1-36-1 (nb2), Steve Elworthy 10-1-44-1 (w1, nb1), Hansie Cronje 10-0-69-1 (w2), Jacques Kallis 10-0-37-2 (w2), Lance Klusener 2-0-11-0, Nicky Boje 4-0-22-0, Dale Benkenstein 1-0-9-0, Peiter Strydom 3-0-15-0 (w4)

SOUTH AFRICA
Gary Kirsten b Tendulkar (111b, 8×4) 93
Herschelle Gibbs c Tendulkar b Kumble (29b, 2×4) 19
Nicky Boje c Agarkar b Tendulkar (12b, 3×4) 14
Jacques Kallis b Joshi (15b, 1×6) 10
Hansie Cronje b Tendulkar (71b, 7×4, 1×6) 66
Dale Benkenstein b Kumble (4b) 0
Lance Klusener c Dravid b Tendulkar (16b) 6
Shaun Pollock b Dravid (15b, 2×4) 14
Mark Boucher (not out) (14b, 1×4, 1×6) 17
Peiter Strydom (not out) (3b) 1
Extras: (b 1, w 8, nb 2) 11
Total: (for eight in 48 overs) 251
Fall of wickets:1-42 (Gibbs, 8.3), 2-63 (Boje, 12), 3-91 (Kallis), 4-204 (Kirsten, 38), 5-205 (Benkenstein), 6-217 (Cronje, 41.5), 7-219 (Klusener, 43.2), 8-244 (Pollock, 48.2)

Bowling: Ajit Agarkar 8-0-36-0 (w 1), Thiru Kumaran 5-0-31-0, Anil Kumble 10-0-39-2 (nb 1, w 1), Sachin Tendulkar 10-0-56-4 (w 1), Sunil Joshi 10-0-56-1 (w 3), Rahul Dravid 2-0-16-1, Saurav Ganguly 3-0-16-0