Related Links : India, South Africa in Ireland 2007 : Scorecard
Sachin Tendulkar gave a magnificent start under difficult conditions for India but got out not for the first time in the nineties. India coasting along to a target of 227 where suddenly thrown into a tricky position with the South African bowlers making most out of their hard earned breakthroughs. But Yuvraj and Dinesh Karthik kept their cool to save the blushes for India with an unbeaten 85-run stand for the 5th wicket to seal the match. India with a six-wicket win in this second ODI have stayed alive in this Future Cup with the decider to be played on Sunday. India have finally put one across the Proteas having lost to them five consecutive ODIs in the recent past.
A good toss was won by Rahul Dravid which allowed his batsmen to escape the tough overcast conditions early on. To add to that India were bolstered with the return of MS Dhoni coming in for an unwell Gautam Gambhir. The other change was giving ODI Debut for Ishant Sharma by removing Rohit Sharma from the line up. The South Africans eager in bringing out some variety in their attack replaced the impressive Vernon Philander with the off spinner Thandi Tshabalala. Zaheer Khan and RP Singh gave a dream start for India by bowling three maidens on the trot and at the end of the fourth over, South Africa were struggling at 2-1 with AB de Villiers falling victim to a mix up with Morne van Wyk who had turned his back to his partner. In the 6th over, RP SIngh produced the biggest SA wicket by inducing Kallis to drag his drive onto his stumps. This is the situation when Gibbs is expected to come good and he started his innings with a classy cover drive for boundary which looked as if he was going to work up his magic. However, a reckless cut shot in the air from Gibbs gave Zaheer and India a lucky break with the stylish batsman making just the 17.
India had SA in trouble at 46 for 3 and were trying to bowl them out but the debutant Ishant Sharma couldn’t create the same impact that Zaheer and RP Singh had on the batsmen. There were hardly any wicket taking deliveries from Ishant which allowed a partnership to grow between the inexperienced pair of Morne van Wyk and the left handed Jean-Paul Duminy. Morne van Wyk learning from the mistake he had done in the first match to Piyush Chawla played him with better control today. There was a six as well from Morne van Wyk which spoilt Chawla’s rhythm. The fourth wicket partnership was worth 85 runs which was broken by Yuvraj Singh getting Duminy to cut him into short thirdman’s hands. Duminy got a promising 40 having played 59 balls. Yuvraj a few overs later denied Morne van Wyk a maiden century by getting him to nick one into Dhoni’s gloves. The opener fell for 86 which had come in 126 balls with 7 fours and a six.
A fifty-run partnership between Boucher and Hall in the last phase of the innings got SA to a respectable 226 for 6. Boucher had remained unbeaten 55 from as many balls with 4 fours and a six. He could have done better for a superb last over from Zaheer Khan that was right up in the blockhole. Yuvraj Singh was the most successful bowler getting 3 for 36 in 9 overs. Surprisingly Rahul Dravid didn’t bowl out the full quota of both Zaheer Khan and RP Singh although they bowled very well.
Makhaya Ntini was pumped up, getting the ball to carry at shoulder height to the wicket keeper. Ganguly was all at sea, playing and missing outside off. Tendulkar wasn’t like that, he shuffled across to pull Ntini across for a dismissive shot to announce that India would be taking on the pace and bounce. The confidence rubbed off on Ganguly who tightened up his game to play the support role to Tendulkar. The runs were coming as per the requirement with lot of pulls, hooks and flicks from Sachin. The two went on their respective jobs to take India to a safe 134 for no loss in the 29th over. This was when SA finally got their breakthrough with Ganguly playing an uppish square drive off Langeveldt into Herschelle Gibbs at point. Ganguly got 42 having battled it out for 75 balls. His innings contained three fours and a six off Tshabalala. It was a good effort from Sourav for keeping one end firm to keep the other batsmen away from the fiery Ntini and Nel. Rahul Dravid walked in and returned back facing just 10 balls after he tried to work a rising delivery from Langeveldt. The big wicket of Tendulkar came when he got into the 90s to become overcautious. Four dot balls off a young spinner saw him try to play a very late cut to a full length ball which turned sharply to force him to play onto his stumps. That was the end of Tendulkar, falling short of his 42nd hundred by 7 runs. Today he had got his runs at a very good rate in 106 balls with 13 fours and two sixes. When he got to his 79th fifty, Tendulkar also became the first ever in the history to get 15000 ODI runs.
The fall of Tendulkar saw India at 140 for 3 which soon became 142 for 4 when a rusty and a tentative Dhoni’s forward defence off Ntini rolled back onto the stumps. MS Dhoni was out for a four-ball duck. The pressure was now very much on the Indians, they had just the last recognized pair of batsmen in Yuvraj and Karthik. Yuvraj struggled early on to get bat on ball with the ball still seaming around. The target was getting reduced though with Dinesh Karthik keeping it busy and taking off the pressure. As Ntini and Nel bowled out their 10 overs, Yuvraj found it much easier and he played a couple of important shots that were enough to see India to victory. One of them was a six in the 48th over behind square on the legside which made victory a formality. India won with 5 balls to spare with Yuvraj on 49 from 63 with 4 fours and a six and the ever so cool Dinesh Karthik hitting the winning single to remain on 32 from 37 with a boundary. Sachin Tendulkar was named as the Man of the Match for his counter attack innings.