Series victory….. Dravid’s 6th in 10 series as Captain.

India won the toss and produced yet another level-headed run chase to beat South Africa in the deciding match of the Future Cup series in Belfast today. In my previous match review, i had offered that winning the toss and fielding first is a huge advantage. With the reduced overs game, it was possibly an ever greater advantage. For India though, there were many bogeys to overcome – a poor reputation in crunch matches, a weakness in reduced overs games and the more recent problem with illness. Sreesanth couldn’t play, but Ajit Agarkar did, and hit his stride right away, making use of the helpful conditions to account for Jacques Kallis and Morne van Wyk in his first spell, to set the South Africans back. Sourav Ganguly came through, bowling his 6 overs for just 24 runs, and dismissing two specialist batsmen in the process. The South Africans, with typically solid middle order play reached 148, setting India a run chase at 4.8 runs per over. At that stage, one felt that while they were about 25 runs short but the conditions and the superiority of their bowling would mean that India would still have to play well.

Tendulkar seemed unconcerned outside off stump, and paid the price, Ganguly was dismissed by a Nel special and Gambhir went due to a Gambhir special. Yet, all India needed, chasing under 150, was one decent stand, and that was what Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh set out to build. The start was slow, but they went with what they got, until Jacques Kallis’s 3rd and 4th overs (the 20th and 22nd of the Indian innings) produced 10 and 15 runs respectively. From then on it was a simple run chase.

Yuvraj Singh stayed till the end and finished the match with a signature pull shot to midwicket fence. The decision to send Dhoni in ahead of the in form Dinesh Karthik was an interesting one, but was vindicated when Dhoni produced two telling boundaries in the penultimate over to end the game as a contest. In the end, Dinesh Karthik was not needed. Results like these will go a long way in making the public more receptive to the idea that Dinesh Karthik and M S Dhoni are being played as specialist batsmen – and are expected to score runs like specialist batsmen. This was Rahul Dravid’s 6th series victory as an ODI captain in 10 series – only 2 of the 10 series have been lost – in West Indies and South Africa, while the remaining two have ended in draws.

Yuvraj Singh made his point during the post match interview with Rameez Raja, and his comment about there having been plenty of “abuse” (that was the word he used, and im glad he used it) in India, and that this win gave the team back some of their confidence. It was a measured comment, in that he pointed out the “abuse”, but didn’t reveal any disgust – instead pointed out that it had shaken the confidence of the side. The sponsors couldn’t help sucking up to Sachin Tendulkar, who was having none of it – inviting Yuvraj Singh to recieve the man of the series award with him (commentators immediatly cast this as a “noble” gesture, preferring not to point out that Tendulkar had called the adjudicators judgement into question). There, two more points were made, with Tendulkar pointing out that Yuvraj made his runs when “we were in trouble” and Yuvraj pointed out that without the runs upfront it would have been hard to compete.

For Jacques Kallis and South Africa, it was a bitter blow. They came into this tournament ranked number 2 in the world and lost to a side that was down and out. Morne van Wyk, and the ability shown by Tshabalala to turn the ball were promising signs. Kallis himself fell to one loose stroke, and one unplayable ball in the two defeats, and his dismissals were probably the key moments in both games.

India have made a good beginning to the England tour. If they can get rid of the flu bug, and find one more high quality seam bowler, they might trouble England this summer in a way that only Australia and Sri Lanka have managed in recent times.

India return the favor…

The tables were turned at Belfast today as it was Rahul Dravid who won the toss and sent the South Africans in to bat. The conditions favored the bowlers, and inspite of some inconsistent bowling from one end (RP Singh), the Indian bowlers made good use of the conditions. Runs were difficult to come by and it was RP’s inconsistency which prompted Jacques Kallis to attempt that fatal square drive. Kallis had been immaculate outside offstump up to that point showing great judgement of line and length. It is quite likely that had it been Zaheer bowling, Kallis might have been more respectful of that delivery. Ishant Sharma bowled like a rookie and his line and length was varied – to the point where “inconsistent” would be an inappropriate word to describe it. This was most probably not by design. However, Sharma did work up some good pace (much more than he did in the hot, oppressive conditions in Bangladesh). The South Africans put up a score on the board, thanks to the gritty Morne van Wyk and the classy Jean-Paul Duminy, with the accomplished Boucher providing the late impetus. The loss of early wickets meant the the South African’s could not attack the spinners as much as they would have liked to. Yuvraj Singh proved effective at the death and thwarted any South African hopes of a late surge of outrageous proportions.

When India batted, Tendulkar and Ganguly made great use of the easier conditions (compared to the first ODI) in the late afternoon. Tendulkar felt confident enough to unleash his horizontal bat shots against the South African pacemen, while Ganguly contributed gamely, inspite of being limited to the premeditated cover drive and some lofted strokes of the off spinner Tshabalala. This is the crucial difference between Ganguly and Sehwag – Ganguly seems to have the ability to ride tough situations unlike Sehwag and even when it is clear that his technique has been exposed, it is always apparent that he has a desperate desire to survive. Ganguly’s errors are purely technical and not temperamental – unlike Sehwag, who has acquired a self-destructive streak in his recent ODI play. A mini collapse followed Ganguly’s dismissal and it was left to India’s best ODI finisher ever to see them home. We saw evidence of Yuvraj’s steely temperament, where in even though he was not able to get the ball off the square, he stuck it out, even though it meant that an asking rate which was less than 5 twelve overs out, mounted to over 7 in the last 3 overs. In terms of the run rate, it was not a difficult run chase. South Africa lacked the Shoaibesque wicket taking menace which is required by bowling sides in circumstances where the run rate is a non-factor.

Today’s game confirmed my pre-series observation that the South African batting is a bit thin and that India would find it possible to secure a hard fought victory. If the side chasing wins again in the third game, it may not offer any real indication of the relative merits of the two teams. Let’s hope that the side batting first is able to win in the third game – that side, can say with confidence that it was the better team. More than a result, one hopes that both sides are able to pick the final elevens from fully fit and healthy squads. Reports yesterday indicated that some South African players have caught the flu bug as well.

Dale Steyn and Santhakumaran Sreesanth will add a new dimension to the third ODI. Lets hope they can make it. In the meanwhile, just sit back and wonder about 15,000 ODI runs – 11,927 of those as opener (another record he might approach quite soon – 12,000 runs as opener!), and 18 years of pure magic…. 🙂