Innings of Contrasting Shades Against South Africa Should Concern India

By Sreelata S. Yellamrazu

     The disgusted look on Gary Kirsten’s face said it all. After all, India revealed their Jekyll and Hyde side in the span of one innings, that too after having the opposition eating out of their hands for the better part of it.

       There is no other way to explain how India gave up their hold on the match they seemed to have firmly grasped by the collar. The South African bowlers did not err on line and length once but rather repeatedly in the face of a mind blowing assault and they had probably anticipated but not sufficiently braced for.

    

            That it was not limited to one bowler alone showed how dominant and merciless Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar had been on the South Africans, punishing them for loose balls and then, forcing them to bowl in areas that are bread and butter to the Indian batsmen. Bowling half volleys way outside the off stump or feeding Sehwag off his legs were certainly what South Africa would not have planned in their team strategy. But the ferocity of the shot making and the speed with which the scoreboard was rattling had clearly unnerved the fielding team to the point where Graeme Smith would have thought he had no one to turn to anymore for respite.

         India’s projected score read 427. It has to be said that despite Sehwag’s dismissal, also brought on by a combination of his own adventurous streak in a moment of cockiness as well as some common sense bowling by Faf du Plessis, that India still had it in them to push towards the magical 400 with Tendulkar once again the sublime force of the juggernaut. That though changed very quickly once Tendulkar was dismissed in the fortieth over.

        If the first eighteen overs went by in a daze for the South Africa, the final ten gave them the assurance they needed as to why they have been such a strong force to reckon with over the years. In the sub continent where acceleration in the final fifteen is as vital as going for glory in the final slog overs with wickets in hand, India committed the cardinal sin of being individually overambitious only to underachieve.

            Sensible running between wickets was not an option. Instead injudicious shots became the order of the day. At one point in the match, it seemed it was a toss up between Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli as to who would take Sehwag’s blitz further. However, the dominance for the better part of thirty overs was quickly banished from the minds as the Nagpur crowds bore witness to the fall from grace as batsman after another tried their hand at personal glory ahead of sensible running between the wickets to ensure Mahendra Singh Dhoni had the maximum opportunity with the strike.

     

            If the vociferous Nagpur crowds were too much to take in the heat for South Africa, their deafening silence was sweet music. Dale Steyn, who had a rare rank bad day at the office early on, came out like the Phoenix rising from the Ashes, claiming five of the nine Indian wickets to fall for the mere addition of twenty-nine runs. India were barely lucky to tie with England for similar transgressions in Bengaluru. They can certainly not afford to surrender the initiative too often if they want to win the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and to be counted amongst the best teams of all time.