5 low-scoring thrillers that ended in an Indian victory
Although there is always talk about how the shorter formats of the game are devised to favour the batsmen, there are days when it is the turn of the bowlers to rule the roost. While low-scoring matches used to be a regular feature in the early years of ODI cricket, flatter pitches and several new rules stacked in favour of the batsmen have decreased their frequency of late.
Over the years, the Indian team has engaged in a number of encounters which not only produced low scores but also went down to the wire. Even though they did end up on the losing side in some low-scoring affairs, Team India managed to pull off a win in quite a few of them as well.
Let’s take a look at 5 low-scoring thrillers where India won the match:
#5 India vs South Africa at Johannesburg, 2011
Victory margin – 1 run
The 5-match ODI series which formed part of India’s 2010/11 tour to South Africa was a hard-fought one and witnessed some exciting cricket. The best of the lot, though, was the 2nd ODI played between the two sides at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.
The Indian batsmen found the going difficult after skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first. Led by a fighting half-century from Yuvraj Singh and contributions from Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, India managed to put 190 runs on the board.
Despite Hashim Amla’s early dismissal for just 4 runs, South Africa were cruising along quite nicely with captain Graeme Smith leading the way. But the situation changed a bit when Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra accounted for Colin Ingram and AB de Villiers respectively.
The Proteas were still in the driver’s seat, however, at 152 for 4 in 32 overs when Munaf Patel brought about the turning point of the match by dismissing Smith for 77. This opened the floodgates for the Indians as the rest of the South African batsmen could manage just 37 runs between them.
Patel ended the game by dismissing Morne Morkel with South Africa needing just 2 runs to win and claimed the Man of the Match award for his figures of 4 for 29.