Proteas prevail over hosts at Nagpur in a tight finish

Tags: World Cup 2011, India v South Africa 29th Match at Nagpur -Mar 12, 2011, India, South Africa, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

Published on: Mar 14, 2011

Scorecard | Commentary | Graphs

South Africa clinched a terrific victory by 3 wickets with two balls to spare as they successfully chased down India's 296 at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur. The visitors needed 13 runs to win from the final over which was bowled by a lackluster Ashish Nehra whose first two balls went for a four and a six taken by Robin Peterson!

South Africa clinched a terrific victory by 3 wickets with two balls to spare as they successfully chased down India's 296 at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur. The visitors needed 13 runs to win from the final over which was bowled by a lackluster Ashish Nehra whose first two balls went for a four and a six taken by Robin Peterson! Newcomer Faf du Plessis played his part in the finish with an unbeaten 25 from 23 balls (with 1 six) while it was Robin Peterson who provided the killing blows with his unbeaten 18 from 7 balls with 2 fours and a six.

India had lost the plot when it collapsed from 261 for 1 in the 40th over to 296 all out in 48.4 overs! The blazing knocks from openers Virender Sehwag (73 from 66 balls with 12 fours) and Sachin Tendulkar (111 from 101 balls with 8 fours and 3 sixes) should have comfortably taken India to a total of 350+! The duo had put up an opening stand of 142 in just 17.4 overs! However the middle order and later the lower order let them down by playing some bad shots and also getting cleaned up by Dale Steyn to throw away the early advantage. Skipper MS Dhoni was helplessly stranded at the non-striker's end with an unbeaten 12 as he watched his partners get dismissed in quick time at the other end.

Dale Steyn destroyed the Indian batting line-up with his 5 for 50 in 9.4 overs. SA in their run chase didn't get off to a rapid start and they lost Graeme Smith in the 9th over with only 43 on the board. Hashim Amla scored a solid 61 from 72 balls with 5 fours and Jacques Kallis came up with 69 from 88 balls with 4 fours to lay the foundation for the chase. It was 173 for 3 when the young pair of AB de Villiers (52 from 39 balls with 6 fours and a six) and JP Duminy (23 from 20 balls with 2 fours and a six) got together and they quickly put up a 50-run stand which helped in reducing the equation in SA's favour. After the pair's exit, it was Johan Botha who played an important cameo of 23 from 15 balls with 2 fours and a six to keep SA still in the hunt which was ultimately finished nicely by Faf du Plessis and Robin Peterson.

India who won the toss and elected to bat first had made one change to their side with Munaf Patel replacing Piyush Chawla. SA replaced the injured Imran Tahir with Johan Botha. The Man of the Match rightly went to Dale Steyn rather than any batsman.

- BV Swagath

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