Peter Robinson
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1st Match: South Africa v India at Johannesburg, 5 Oct 2001 Peter Robinson |
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India innings:
Pre-game: South Africa innings: |
The Indian opening pair put on 193 for the first wicket as the tourists piled up 279 for five, but Kirsten and Gibbs answered in kind as they tore into the Indian seamers, quickly lifting the run rate to above seven to the over with a savage display of hitting.
When the fielding restrictions were lifted, Kirsten, usually the more sedate partner, had 54 with Gibbs on 43.
Gibbs set the tone for the partnership in the first over of the innings when he took two boundaries off Venkatesh Prasad’s first over, but Kirsten quickly caught up, scoring all around the wicket, but particularly severe on anything around the line of pad or hip.
There was an early chance for India to break the partnership when Gibbs, then on 14, lifted a drive to mid-off off Javagal Srinath. But Ganguly, so dazzling earlier in the day, rather spoiled his contribution by misjudging a dipping catch.
Prasad went for 33 in his opening four-over burst with Srinath conceding 28, also off four overs, and the introduction of Ajit Agarkar and Anil Kumble did little to stem the flow of runs. Like the South Africans before them, the Indian fielders discovered that anything that breached the inner ring sped away to the boundary across a glassy outfield.
Kirsten’s 50 came up off just 44 balls and included nine fours and although Gibbs trailed him, he too was scoring at better than a run a ball, bringing up the South African hundred by nudging Agarkar down to third man for four.
Such was Ganguly’s brilliance on the day that he overshadowed Sachin Tendulkar who made his 30th one-day century, a composed 101, as the pair shared a record Indian partnership for any wicket of 193 against South Africa. At one point it seemed that South Africa might go wicketless through an entire innings.
The South Africans eventually managed to avoid this embarrassment, but the Indian score was nevertheless the highest made in an ODI at the Wanderers.
The left-hander was easily the dominant partner in the stand, evidenced when he reached his century and Tendulkar went to 50 in the same Lance Klusener over. To a degree Ganguly’s ascendancy could be explained by the 110 deliveries he had faced at that point to Tendulkar’s 76, but it is also true that Tendulkar was perfectly content to give as much of the strike to Ganguly as he wanted.
He finally went in the 36th over, trying to put Justin Kemp over midwicket but top-edging a skier that Mark Boucher held scampering back towards fine leg. He had faced 126 balls on being dismissed and had hit 14 fours and five handsome sixes.
By contrast to Ganguly, the Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid made a negligible contribution to the Indian effort, holing out to square leg off Andre Nel for 1 at 198 for two.
Tendulkar, meanwhile, soldiered on. He had been missed at slip on 11 and was given a second life on 68, a sharp return catch to Nel which squeezed out of the bowler’s left hand and eluded the right hand as he grabbed at it.
Dravid’s dismissal brought in Yuvraj Singh who signalled his intentions by crashing Lance Klusener over extra cover for four, but he made only 14 before holing out to Gary Kirsten at long off of Klusener at 242 for three.
Virender Sehwag added 5 before being caught at midwicket by Herschelle Gibbs as Shaun Pollock claimed his first wicket of the innings at 257 for four, but then came the moment the Indian supporters, indeed the whole of the Wanderers, had been waiting for.
Tendulkar reached three figures by tapping Jacques Kallis for two. He had taken 128 balls and hit nine fours and received a deserved standing ovation. He had also left it none to soon, scooping the next delivery high to wide mid on where Gibbs took a well judged catch.
There was still time, though, for SS Das and Ajit Agarkar to take India past the previous highest total at the Wanderers – 266 for five and eight made by South Africa against Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively – before the end of the innings.
From 76 for no wicket in the 15th over, India moved to 154 for no wicket in the 30th with Ganguly on 96 and Sachin Tendulkar on 48. The partnership exceeded India’s previous best opening stand against South Africa.
Ganguly moved to his 50 off 60 deliveries with a single worked down to third man off Jacques Kallis in the 17th over and, is if to celebrate, he hit Makhaya Ntini contemptuously over extra cover in the next over for four.
The Indian hundred came up in the 21st over of the innings, Ganguly tucking Jacques Kallis through midwicket for two and in the following over he opened his shoulders to heave Ntini over midwicket for six.
That South Africa were struggling was emphasised when Jonty Rhodes, of all people, allowed a gentle tap from Tendulkar to elude him at backward point.
But Ganguly was the dominant figure, clubbing Klusener over long on for six and repeating the treatment against Ntini, over square leg on this occasion.
The breakthough for South Africa nearly came in the 27th over when Ganguly sent Tendulkar back and Herschelle Gibbs’ underarm throw just slipped past the stumps with Tendulkar short of his ground.
The scare did not subdue the Indians, however, with Ganguly producing the shot of the innings in the 29th over, a flat, low six over midwicket off Klusener and the 150 partnership came up off the last ball of the same over.
When the fielding restrictions were lifted, Ganguly had 45 with Tendulkar on 24.
Ganguly had gone into the match on the back of a less then flattering view of Pollock as a bowler, and he backed his words with action, stroking the first ball of the innings through extra cover for four.
There was some pace and bounce in the Wanderers pitch, as evidenced in Andre Nel’s second over when a high bouncer cleared the head of both Ganguly and wicketkeeper Mark Boucher and ran away for four no balls, but the Indian batsmen, who had been expected to struggle against the lifting ball, showed few signs of discomfort.
Ganguly was the more aggressive of the two, playing and missing occasionally, but timing the ball well for the most part and the closest South Africa came to a breakthrough came in the ninth over when Tendulkar edged Pollock to first slip. Lance Klusener leapt and clawed at the catch with his right hand, but could not hold on and Tendulkar escape on 11.
Pollock was some way short of his, conceding 30 off his first five overs before giving way to Jacques Kallis. And the Indian 50 came up in the 11th over when Tendulkar welcomed Kallis into the attack with a straight-driven three. With both Tendulkar and Ganguly helping themselves to boundaries, Kallis’ first over cost South Africa 12.
Nel, in fact, had looked the most effective of the all-seam South African attack, conceding 22 in his opening six-over burst before being replaced by Makhaya Ntini, but none of the South Africans could fashion the breakthrough as Ganguly and Tendulkar laid the foundations for a substantial Indian total.
Ganguly, though, was given a life on 43 in the 15th over when he top-edged a pull against Kallis, but Justin Kemp, running in from fine leg, could not hold the chance.
The fitness of both Ganguly and Tendulkar had been the subject of some speculation in the days leading up to the match and their presence ensured that India were able to field what looked to be their strongest XI.
The South Africans chose to omit spinner Claude Henderson from their 12-man squad, giving them an all-seam attack.
Teams
South Africa: Shaun Pollock (capt), Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Jonty Rhodes, Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher, Justin Kemp, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini.
India: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Verindra Sehwag, Yuvrav Singh, SS Das, Deep Dasgupta, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad.
© CricInfo
Date-stamped : 06 Oct2001 - 06:28