SA have India reeling at 137 for six, before rain hits St George's Park
SA have India reeling at 137 for six, before rain hits St George's ParkIn pursuit of 266 for a historic series-win in South Africa, India were reduced to 137 for six after 31.3 overs when rain interrupted play. The batsmen dismissed were Rohit Sharma (1), Parthiv Patel (11), Yuvraj Singh (12), Suresh Raina (20), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2) and Yusuf Pathan (2).
Local boy Lonwabo 'Lopsy' Tsotsobe continued his imperious rhythm, removing both openers, firstly Rohit (1) in just his third ball and Parthiv at the stroke of the tenth over. The flashiness in Sharma refused to die down as the Mumbai batsman played and missed at a few balls before edging one to JP Duminy at backward-point.
Patel, who came in as a replacement for the underperforming Murali Vijay, displayed courage in hooking Dale Steyn for a boundary, but found it hard to do so regularly. The left-hander paid the price for shuffling around the crease, getting trapped lbw, attempting to flick one off his pads.
u00a0A host of attempted cover-drives and square cuts refused to meet the middle of the blade as both Parthiv and Virat found it difficult to pierce the gaps, accelerate. The sluggish nature of the surface made it tough to strike rising balls, called for a cautious approach. For the third consecutive time in the series, successful shot-making required patience.
u00a0Earlier, South Africa's innings was divided into various phases. Just like the nature of this low-scoring five-match series, there was never any calm, continuity or a process involved. After electing to bat, the first five overs saw the hosts scoring just 10 runs.
The next five they notched up 44, and accelerated to a healthy 109-2 at the end of 20 overs. Graeme Smith (18) mistimed a flat batted stroke off Ashish Nehra (1-27) to Harbhajan Singh (0-61) at mid-off in the 12th over, while Morne van Wyk (15), who made a promising start in his first one-dayer since November 2007, dabbed at a Yuvraj Singh delivery to Virat Kohli at first slip in the 20th. There was chaos in the next three overs - as Hashim Amla (64), who had cracked eight glorious boundaries, AB de Villiers (3) and Faf du Plessis - fell in the space of 14 balls - as South Africa stumbled to 118-5.
Those three abrupt dismissals were unique. Firstly, Amla, who mistimed a pull-shot to run for a leg-bye, strangely decided to try and pinch a second only to fall short of his crease. For balls later, de Villiers could have been dismissed on two counts, but was eventually given caught behind off Yuvraj (3-38). It was a ball that pitched on off and middle and turned sharply, propelling AB to lunge forward and defend it.
Replays revealed that AB was out stumped, and not caught, the umpire thought otherwise. In the next over, du Plessis dabbed one to square-leg and took off for a non-existent run. It was a case of terrible misjudgment, evidently the youngster was nervous to get off strike.
JP Duminy (71') and Johan Botha (44) brought some level-headedness to South Africa's innings with smart running and risk-free batting. They added 70 runs for the eighth-wicket until Botha failed to connect a sweep shot to get stumped - handing Yuvraj his third wicket. Thereafter, local boy Robin Peterson scored a quick-fire 31, adding a further 54 runs with Duminy, who was playing the role of anchor to near perfection.
Duminy effectThe former Mumbai Indians southpaw struck only two fours and a six in his 72-ball effort, testament to the amount of hustling he had done. It was the need of the hour for the hosts. A rarity in the series, SA took 45 runs from their batting Powerplay, between overs 45 and 50.
ScoreboardSouth AfricaH Amla run out (Kohli) 64, G Smith c Harbhajan b Nehra 18, M van Wyk c Kohli b Yuvraj 15, A B de Villiers c Dhoni b Yuvraj 3, J P Duminy not out 71, F du Plessis run out (Kohli) 1, J Botha st Dhoni b Yuvraj 44, R Peterson run out (Pathan) 31. D Steyn not out 4.
Extras: (B1, Lb1, N2, W10) 14.
Total: (7 wkts 50 overs) 265.
Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-106, 3-111, 4-115, 5-118, 6-188, 7-242.
Bowling: Zaheer 9-1-55-0, Munaf 8-1-49-0, Nehra 6-0-27-1, Harbhajan 10-0-61-0, Yuvraj 8-0-34-3, Rohit 2-0-6-0, Raina 3-0-13-0, Pathan 4-0-18-0 (Scores incomplete)
