Indias Virender Sehwag (77 not out) not only came back to form in one-day cricket, but was also in full flow at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Saturday
AP PhotoBangalore: If Virender Sehwag is supreme entertainment value, another quality showed up livening up a near-insipid match played on a surface that was no great advertisement for one-day cricket.
To those who did not want to be overly critical of the Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch, it was a slow turner. Fair call!
Sehwag came in when India were not in a safety zone (52 for two), smashed the ball around, played delicately at times and helped India race to a six-wicket win in the 36th over of the second one-day international here on Saturday.
His unconquered 77 came off 66 balls. Yuvraj Singh was the other unbeaten batsman on four, as a section of the crowd decided to barge in and celebrate on the field.
Earlier, India had restricted South Africa to 169 for nine from 50 overs, with Sehwag chipping in with a couple of wickets as well. In a way, it was a difficult time for the Delhi man.
He went through the entire seven-match series against Sri Lanka without a fifty. In fact, in the last 27 games before this one, he had only one 50-plus score to show.
Plus, he came at an unusual number four position, what with India deciding to strategise by giving Super Sub Gautam Gambhir a chance to open with Sachin Tendulkar. Irfan Pathan, whose three mighty blows with the ball crippled the Proteas, was sent at one-drop.
Sehwags inability to get big in terms of scores in the recent past was not a great worry for captain Rahul Dravid, but Saturdays knock has sure added a dollop of cheer to the Indian camp.
Viru has been batting really well and like I have been saying, he has just not been able to go on and get that 50. Today, he batted beautifully.
He came in at two-down when they (SA) were still competing very hard in the game on a slow wicket and the way he batted right till the end was fantastic. He also took a couple of wickets for us. It just shows the kind of flexibility we do possess, said Dravid of his vice-captain.
Sehwag was ruthless when it came to clubbing the ball through the off-side and he showed feline grace when he played an immaculate late cut when Johan Botha came on for his second spell.
A four off Botha brought about his 48-ball 50.
Whatever happened to a slow, frustrating wicket we wondered? Just that one entertainer came in and showed you just need a bat to drive home a point.
SCOREBOARD
SOUTH AFRICA
A B de Villiers c H Singh b Pathan 4
*G Smith lbw b Pathan 3
A Hall c Kaif b H Singh 32
J Kallis c Dhoni b Pathan 2
A Prince c H Singh b Sehwag 30
M Boucher lbw Sehwag 14
J Kemp c R P Singh b H Singh 28
S Pollock b Yuvraj 29
J Botha not out 15
M Ntini b Agarkar 1
A Nel (did not bat)
Extras (b 1, lb 3, w 4, nb 3) 11
Total (for nine wickets) 169
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-14, 3-20, 4-57,
5-85, 6-96, 7-143, 8-158, 9-169
BOWLING
Pathan 6-1-23-3
Agarkar 7-0-25-1
R P Singh 5-0-22-0
H Singh 10-2-33-2
Kartik 10-4-16-0
Sehwag 8-0-29-2
Yuvraj 4-0-17-1
INDIA
G Gambhir run out 38
S Tendulkar c sub b Pollock 2
I Pathan run out 37
V Sehwag not out 77
*R Dravid c & b Ontong 10
Yuvraj not out 4
Extras (w 2, nb 1) 3
Total (for four wickets) 171
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-52, 3-105, 4-155
BOWLING
Pollock 6-3-10-1
Ntini 8-1-32-0
Nel 5-0-31-0
Botha 8-1-47-0
Hall 6-0-23-0
Ontong 2.4-0-28-1
