South Africa vs India 2013: South Africa rout India by 134 runs in Durban to win ODI series
The flop show by Indian batsmen continued even as bowlers put up a marginally better show at Durban
The defeat in first ODI was squarely laid on the shoulders of new ball bowlers by MS Dhoni, even as the batsmen somehow avoided the flak from the captain in post-match presentation.
Duly, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma made way for Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma in Durban to get that ‘express pace’ which India lacked in Johannesburg.
Winning the toss, with rain in the air, MS Dhoni rightly elected to field first, with the pitch hardly distinguishable from the rest of the square. But till AB de Villiers was brilliantly foxed by Ravindra Jadeja and quickly stumped by MS Dhoni in the 37th over, it seemed like a repeat telecast of the Johannesburg ODI.
Quinton de Kock followed up his 135 in Johannesburg with another fluid hundred in Durban, while Hashim Amla too made up for a missed opportunity to score big in the previous match with a well compiled century.
Once the duo were dismissed after 194-run partnership, 42 more than first ODI, India tightened the screws around South African batting. Ashwin and Jadeja got response from the slower wicket and were economical, while the part timers too made it difficult for South African batsmen to score at will.
Once 300 was looking imminent, but some tight bowling towards the end made it look out of reach. Only some lusty blows from Ryan McLaren towards the end got the hosts to what looked like a par score at 280.
It surely looked within reach of this Indian batting line-up which was finding its feet in South Africa. Having faced 16 mind-bogglingly insane deliveries from Dale Steyn before getting his bat on the cherry in Johannesburg, Rohit Sharma was greeted with a loosener down the leg side first up by Steyn today. He collected 4 runs off the first 2 balls, and suddenly, India’s successfully chasing 281 looked a foregone conclusion.
But normality was restored when an outswinger next up beat Rohit’s edge. Shikhar Dhawan got a rising delivery outside off and drove it straight into the hands of the point fielder. The dreams were still not shattered.
Virat Kohli then tried to dispel any doubts of fear which may be lingering in his subconscious, as he cheekily attempted to play to third man, middling it into the wicketkeeper’s hands.
Indian batsmen have often been criticised for failing to keep their shots on the ground and Rohit Sharma repeated that mistake when he pulled one short ball from Lonwabo Tsotsobe straight into the hands of Hashim Amla at short mid-wicket.
Ajinkya Rahane continued to be the unlucky man of Indian cricket today. He was drafted in for Yuvraj Singh, who was ‘not fit’ according to MS Dhoni, but fell victim to an atrocious decision. Even as he slashed at a wide delivery outside off, a pendant on his neck hit the grill of his helmet and made everyone, including the umpire, believe that the sound came from the ball nicking the bat, even when there was a mile between them.
MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina tried to hold the Indian ship in the storm it again found itself in, but Dhoni edged one to de Kock behind the stumps as his feet refused to move to an outswinger from Vernon Philander. Unsurprisingly, there was going to be no Jesus-like resurrection today. This was Durban, not Chennai.
Suresh Raina continued to hop, jump and climb onto the deliveries aimed at his throat, surprisingly not facing one that would have caught him off guard and hit the bottom of the stumps. But credit to the left-hander for making a fighting 36 before timing an on-the-up drive perfectly into the hands of David Miller in the covers. It was a superb low catch from Miller, who did well to hold onto that bullet.
The writing was on the wall much before all of India’s recognised batsmen were back into the hut, and even though Ravindra Jadeja hit a few lusty blows, Steyn and Tsotsobe took care of the fact that there was no wagging by India’s tail.
If opening bowling woes worried MS Dhoni in Johannesburg, sweeping changes didn’t help either as the same story continued in Durban. India’s death bowling though, was a much improved version of itself after conceding only 82 runs in the last 14 overs.
However, batsmen gave away their wickets to not-so-harmful deliveries from South African bowlers, and MS Dhoni would do good to accept that his batsmen didn’t apply themselves at all on the day.
If the ODI series was considered a preparation ground for the Tests, India has more negatives than positives to take from two days of poor, globally televised net sessions now. There doesn’t seem to be a quick fix for Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s inability to play risk-free innings on bouncy pitches.
If Johannesburg and Durban are the sample set, the December 11 fixture in Centurion will be anything but a repeat telecast of two very depressing days for Indian cricket.
Here’s the FULL SCORECARD.